Ordinary Unordinary, A Sisters' Set
by Crimson Angel Sin
Summary: My sister and I-once, normal humans; now, unexpected heroines-get sucked into Bleach. We are little more than prizes in a game-powers to end the war between Shinigami and Espada. Which will prove stronger: blood or power? LuppixOC HitsugayaxOC
1. Evening, Starlight

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Bleach_._

_Crimson: Maybe I should have put that Tite Kubo owns Bleach? Eh. **shrugs shoulders** I put it here so, at least, it's somewhere. . ._

_O.o Wow, I'm not making much sense even to myself._

_Jen: heh. heh. You never make any sense, big sis!_

_Crimson: ha ha. That was a sarcastic laugh, by the way. Hey! You're almost a whole foot shorter than me in this^.^ Yay!_

_Jen: I'm still taller than you in real life, though. . .Little Sister._

_Crimson: Aw, shut up ._

_Jen: heh. heh. READ ON!_

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**Chapter One–**

**Evening, Starlight**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

**.::My (Crimson's) POV::.**

The cold bit at my skin, pushing me into wakefulness even though my body felt like lead it was so beaten and worn. I felt something like silk brush over my shoulders, arms, waist, hips, and thighs. The sensation seemed oddly familiar, but I couldn't place it. My haze-filled brain could barely make out the fact that I lay on my side, body bent in a fetal position. The stiffness in my limbs informed me that I had been like that for awhile now. Just how long had I been asleep? On that note, _when_ on earth had I even gone to sleep? I had no recollection of going to bed. I couldn't recall pulling back my red-and-black coverlets and sinking into the warmth of my mattress. I couldn't remember anything after that deafening, high-pitched whistle blasting in my eardrums the second I had stepped into my apartment after I had gone grocery shopping. Nothing had imprinted on my mind after that. Just darkness. An inescapable black void. . . .

I tried to lift my eyelids, but found that I could barely slit them open. My body still shivered from the icy air which had brought me out of my sleep. It felt so strange. It seemed like I had nothing on to cover my skin. Like I was naked.

"Well, well," a familiar-yet-not-familiar voice broke through the buzz of thoughts clouding my brain. "She's awake." As soon as the words were spoken, I felt a light touch brush against my cheek. Slender, delicate fingers brushed my hair out of my face. I could feel the sleek strands move over my skin before being anchored behind my exposed ear. That movement somehow forced back that overpowering wave of weakness. I pushed my eyes the rest of the way open in order to get a good glimpse of the person I knew had spoken.

"Szayel. . . ." I breathed out in awe, amazed at what I saw.

The pink-haired scientist looked surprised for a moment, but that expression quickly melted into his usual grin. "Interesting. You know my name." He removed his white-gloved hand from my face, fisting it, instead, under his chin as he thought. Meanwhile, I tried to raise myself from my position on the uncomfortable laboratory table he had me on. The cold steel burned at my skin, numbing me to the bone. I soon found out that the silky feeling which I had felt earlier covering the length of my body, had actually been my hair. My eyes widened at how long my previously-shoulder-length hair had grown. It trailed over my prone body (which–I realized with a blush–was completely void of even a stitch of clothing), following it's curve before finally stopping at the snow-white skin of my knees. I just stared at the blue-black strands, surprised at its length yet, at the same time, insanely grateful for it. The length of the locks hid my nakedness from the arrancar's view. If it had still retained the shoulder-length cut of before, then. . .yeah, I'd probably have to kill the pink-haired pervert. . . .

"Now, don't move too much, dear," Szayel advised with a quirk of his eyebrow. "Your body still seems to be under much stress. The heart rate has just now slowed down to its normal pace. The neurons in your brain aren't spiking quite as high either. Curious," he mulled to himself, golden eyes glued to the computer screen I could vaguely make out by my "bed".

I groaned when I moved the wrong way, causing a sharp pain to shoot up my spine. Aware of my nudity, I pulled my knees closer into my body, desperate to hide whatever I could from the prying eyes of the Octava Espada. All I received for my efforts was an amused smirk.

"Modest, are you?" the man inquired in a joyful tone, already knowing the answer. It was kind of obvious with the way I was acting. . . .

I nodded my head anyway, unsure if I could trust my voice yet. A deep scarlet flushed my face as my shyness overtook me. I still couldn't quite grasp the situation I had suddenly found myself in. I suppose I had subconsciously come up with the concept that this was nothing more than a dream. A very realistic dream, but a fantasy, nevertheless.

"Well, then, I suppose finding a change of clothes in this place won't be too hard." Szayel turned his back on me, then, and walked off in a random direction. I hadn't realized it until right then that I couldn't see anything a few feet beyond my little metal table. Everything outside this little sphere was pitch-black. The pink-haired espada was instantly consumed by those shadows, leaving me alone. Somehow, though, it didn't bother me. I could still sense his presence beyond this lit area. I knew he hadn't left the room, just left this strange prison cell.

I looked around me as much as my current position would allow. I saw nothing but the screens that displayed my heart rate and my brain waves. Curiosity consumed me as I watched the little spiked line that was labeled "brain waves". My golden eyes widened marginally as it suddenly released a much larger spike than the previous one. I hummed quietly, sifting through what medical knowledge I had gathered from my mother (who had trained as a nurse once in college), but I could not find any trace of there being a machine that could monitor my _brain_. Heart rate, oxygen levels, and even blood pressure, but nothing about a brain calculator. . . . My mother had informed me that the previous items would be used when someone was admitted to the hospital in a serious condition. I assumed Szayel had discovered me in such a state or else he would never have hooked me up to such pieces of equipment. Well, then again, he _was _a mad scientist as my sister keeps reminding me. . . .

My sister. . . .

I snapped into a sitting position suddenly, my arms crossed over my average-sized chest to instinctively keep myself covered. My vision spun and I swayed slightly, so I crouched over my bare legs to wait out the wave of dizziness consuming me. Thoughts of my little sister left all by herself back in my apartment came rushing through my head. The door! I hadn't had time to lock the damn door! What if a robber comes in? What if it's a rapist? Even if this is a dream, I am positive that I had left the front door wedged open when bringing in the several bags of groceries. . . .

My little sister. . . .

Tears stung my eyes. I clenched them shut, trying to prevent any from falling. The effort failed. I could feel the wetness gather on my long lashes before running down my cheeks in salty rivulets. What was I going to do?

"I told you not to move," Szayel's voice hit me like a slap in the face. My head snapped up only to see the disgruntled expression settling over the Ocatava Espada's feminine features. With a light coloring to my cheeks, I noticed that the pink-haired man didn't have those strange, orange-tinted glasses on. I had always imagined how he'd look without them, but. . .my imagination apparently didn't work as amazingly-well as I had been led to believe. His golden eyes stared heatedly at me without any obstruction from lenses; and there were no bulky frames drawing the eye away from the perfect structure of his face. All in all, he was _very_ bishounen ("handsome").

Now, I'm not saying glasses make a person ugly. Hell, I'd worn glasses for a few years of my life before I switched to contacts (the metal piece between my eyes _always_ gave me a giant headache). And I've seen countless people who look absolutely breathtaking while wearing bifocals. I mean, man, I've even noticed how some people are actually drawn to the whole "studious" look, as they call it.

All this time that I had been thinking to myself, I had been staring at Szayel. And, just as my luck was, he totally noticed. . . .

A self-satisfied smirk grew on Szayel's lips. He had placed the bundle of clothing he had brought in to the lighted bubble down on the table next to me, but I had been too busy to notice. Instead of shoving the clothes at me and telling me to get dressed, the mad scientist decided to test an experiment.

I jumped when I felt a warm breath fanning my skin suddenly. Two warm hands gripped the bare sides of my waist, making me squirm uncomfortably despite the soreness in my back. My body automatically tried to lean away from the sudden nearness of another, but found I couldn't move too far without revealing the most-intimate parts of myself. I remained sitting straight up on the table, unmoving, with my arms crossed over my breasts and my thighs clamped tightly together in such a way that my lower legs fanned out on either side of me. Two pairs of golden eyes stared into one another. His were full of curiosity and. . .mischief? Mine undoubtedly held a glimpse of fear and trepidation.

"Like what you see?" he asks with a leering grin. I tried to pull back when he lowered his face to mine, far too close for comfort. He must have learned that line from Nnoitra. At least, that's what I would have to surmise. I didn't know very much about Szayel (or any of the Espada, for that matter, considering I hadn't had the chance to get too far into the _Bleach_ series), so I wasn't exactly positive of what the Octava Espada was like. However, I was pretty certain he wasn't perverted. . . .

My only response was my face changing shades from a rose-pink to a tomato-red. I simply whimpered and shook my head fiercely, snapping my eyes shut.

My answer to the question was more than obvious. . . .

"Interesting," the espada repeated his favorite word, obviously satisfied with the answer–or lack thereof. The sensation of him moving away from me was enough to draw me back out.

My eyes peeked open as his slender hands moved off my waist. I flinched as the cold air swarmed over my exposed body once more, replacing the heat his body had been radiating onto me. I blushed three shades darker when I remembered my undressed state.

"Get dressed, then come out. We're already late," Szayel ordered without a second glance at me.

My eyes widened at his sudden show of aloofness. Had that been an experiment of his? My shoulders sagged. I wasn't sure if I should be happy that he wasn't going to rape me, or if I should be depressed that he didn't find me attractive enough to actually chase after.

Szayel didn't stay inside my little space with me. Instead, he proudly strode out of some doorway I could not see, making me wonder how I would find my own way out of this place. I shook off such thoughts, pushing them away as I slowly reached one hand down to pick up the clothes Szayel had brought in to me. I stubbornly kept my other arm securely against my chest, succeeding only in concealing my, ahem, _nipples_ and not much else. . . .

Anyway, I digress.

I pulled apart the pieces of black cloth, unfolding a rare beauty I had not known the arrancar to even possess. My cheeks lessened their red stain, settling into a pleased pink which gave me a healthy glow.

_'I think I'm going to like this place,' _I thought happily to myself as I donned the black bra and underwear before pulling the midnight-colored shirt over my head. The top had no sleeves so I added the elbow-length pair of black gloves still resting on the table beside me. The neckline of the top was actually a strap that wrapped around the back of my neck, keeping the shirt in place on my torso. The dark cloth clung to my sides, hugging my curves and showing off my lithe figure. The bottom flared out at my hips a little bit, trailing part way down my legs in a triangular array. It only reached my mid-thigh so a pair of black tights completed the outfit. I was fully dressed under five minutes, and it only took another minute to pull my long hair out from my shirt. It fell around my shoulders and flowed all the way to the back of my knees. The length of it even exceeded that of my shirt. It would take some getting used to–this suddenly-long hair that I had.

"All finished?" Szayel's voice floated into my ear. I freaked out, stumbling forward but didn't fall only thanks to Szayel's arm encasing my waist.

I flinched at the pressure on my stomach, but quickly masked the pain as the pink-haired scientist set me back on my feet.

"Let's go," he instructed, taking me by the arm to pull me out of the strange bubble. The second we exited my temporary room, I was blinded by all the white.

My other hand snapped up to cover my stinging eyes while the heels of my feet dug desperately into the tiled floor. Szayel's strength proved much greater than my own. He didn't even break his stride as he merely chuckled at my discomfort while continuing our forward momentum. I clenched my teeth together to prevent a string of curses from rushing out of my mouth. My eyes narrowed into slits so that the glaring white walls, floors, and ceilings of his laboratory wouldn't affect me as much. Of course, this limited my vision greatly as to where the hell we were going. I couldn't even see where my feet were stepping. In the end, I ended up allowing the Octava Espada to guide me, using my arm as a leash. I was surprised really. Even though I knew how powerful he must be (being arrancar, and all), his grip on my upper arm remained gentle.

By the time we reached our destination, my eyes had adjusted to all the white Las Noches seemed to encompass. I hadn't really paid much attention to the sights along the way (it was just a bunch of white, anyway), so I had no clue what kind of path we took through this maze. There was no way I would be able to find my way in this place. I would get lost for sure if I tried to escape. . . .

"Lord Aizen and the others should already be inside," Szayel announced as we stood outside the large double doors. It took me a moment to realize what room this was.

_'Conference room?'_ I thought silently to myself. The name sounded so strange. I knew that was what it was used for, but it sounded like some place inside an office building in New York City rather than a room inside a castle which resided within Hueco Mundo or the "Hollow World".

Without saying anything else, the Octava Espada easily pushed open one of the doors just enough to slide into. He then pulled me in front of him so that I would be the first to enter. I felt nerves flutter about in my stomach, but tried my best to ignore them. Even with my heels digging into the floor and my back pressed against the pink-haired espada's chest, I couldn't so much as slow down our stately procession into the room. I was instantly thrown into a semi-darkness. My eyes quickly adjusted, preferring this kind of light rather than the blinding sort still streaming in through the door. Without me noticing it, my own legs betrayed me as they stopped resisting Szayel's urging and started walking all on their own. He continued to steer me further into the darkened area, large hands settled atop my shoulders. I looked around for just a bit, catching sight of several people sitting at a long, oblong table at the bottom of a short stairwell. We stood at the top of that stairwell, so all eyes instantly latched onto us. I felt my face heat up at all the attention before I looking down at my feet in embarrassment.

"Ah! Welcome, Szayel," the most-annoying, most-obnoxious voice greeted into the sudden hush of the room. My muscles instantly tensed up and I had to literally bite my tongue in order to not lash out at that bastard. "This must be the girl you mentioned." I glared daggers at the man seated just before us at the head of the table. Fortunately, he couldn't see my eyes very well since my bangs shadowed the top part of my face since I still faced the ground.

"Pft! A _human_?" another voice I didn't recognize spoke up. It held such a clear tone of loathing and disgust that I instantly felt a sliver of ice drop into my stomach. I wasn't sure if I was getting scared or if my anger was starting to rise. . . .

"Hey, what do we have here? Such a pretty, little girl." Now, _that_ voice I had a sneaking suspicion belonged to Nnoitra, the 5th Espada. That pervert made my skin crawl, and I had to force back a retort at being called "little".

Szayel must have sensed my roiling emotions because his hands suddenly gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze before letting go. An expression of surprise swept over my face for a second as I glanced back at him. I couldn't be sure, but I could swear he was actually being _nice_ to me. That was certainly unexpected. . . .

My golden gaze followed his slender form as he took a step around me and headed over to Aizen's chair. I remained standing where I was, unsure of what else to do. I felt like a little kid, lost without my mother. My eyes passed over the people gathered at the table, ignoring Aizen and Szayel as they spoke quietly to each other for a moment. I feigned boredom, trying not to linger too long on one face for fear of being yelled at (or worse) for looking at someone the wrong way. I didn't linger too long on Yammy since he didn't seem to be listening to anyone or anything around him. He even had his eyes closed, his well-muscled arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. Stark–the one I thought would be sleeping or at least "resting his eyes"–was actually staring at me with slight interest. I caught his eye, hesitating for just a moment when he did something completely out of the blue.

Coyote Stark winked at me. It didn't appear to be a "come hither" kind-of-wink, just a friendly one. A reassuring smile played about his lips, as well, before he turned his gaze down to the table in front of him and closed his eyes.

I felt a trickle of comfort run into the pit of my stomach, calming the wild fluttering of those butterflies I mentioned earlier. I then turned my slow study of the espada to the next person. I almost gagged when I saw the lecherous look in Nnoitra's eyes as he checked me out. I instantly moved to the next person, making a mental note to avoid the scary pervert. Baraggan gave me a cold glare, which I ignored. That seemed to make him a little pissy so Harribel–the one who sat on his other side–rested a restraining hand on his arm. Harribel didn't even bother to spare me a glance. That kind of hurt a little. I liked Harribel from what I had heard about her from my sister–who was much further along in the series than I was.

Feeling my mood sink into depression when I thought about my youngest sibling, I immediately shifted my attention to the next person. Ulquiorra's emotionless, emerald-green eyes stared back at me. I pushed away the bout of shyness and embarrassment as a blush threatened to stain my cheeks once again. My gaze lingered on him for a long moment, but, when I noticed that he wasn't going to change his expression (or lack thereof), I decided to get a move-on. I pretty much ignored Aaroniero altogether, not interested in whatever he thought of me. With Aaroniero, I wouldn't have been able to tell what his thoughts on me were anyway. Or if he was even looking at me. . . . Zommari flat-out disregarded me, acting as if I wasn't even there. He didn't spur much interest in me anyway, although I was at least happy to know he wasn't being openly-hateful like Baraggan. Finally, my eyes fell upon that familiar ice-blue hair and eyes of the sixth Espada. I had seen plenty of pictures of him to know exactly who he was.

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques.

He glanced at me only when he felt my eyes on him. His expression didn't seem to point either way as to what he was feeling. Automatically, my head cocked to the side, like a puppy, as I tried to decipher his mood. This incited a small smile (or smirk?) from the blue-haired man. My eyes widened in pleasant surprise, but not enough so as to catch anyone's attention below. A presence from behind me, however, nearly made me jump out of my skin. I instantly spun around, uncaring as to what the espadas' reactions would be to my sudden movement. My lips parted in silent shock, eyes wide at who I saw standing inches before me.

_'Gin Ichimaru. . . .'_

I instantly clamped my mouth shut and fixed a more-careless expression on my face so as to not embarrass myself further. Only then did I study the "fox face" of the former Captain of the 3rd Squad in the Soul Society. The usual grin didn't greet me. His slit eyes were even scrunched up in obvious confusion as he looked down at me. Thinking that he wanted to get past me, I started to move to one side but another presence behind me stopped my movements with a grip on my wrist.

"Welcome, Gin," Aizen's voice floated from just behind me and over my head. I tensed up once more, hands clenching into fists.

He. Was. Touching. My. Hand.

"Ah! Good evening, Aizen-sama!" Gin responded, startled out of his stupor. The trademark grin slipped onto his face as he moved past me to get down the steps. I desperately wanted to follow but couldn't, seeing as how Aizen still had hold of my wrist.

"Come now, dear. Let's sit down and get more comfortable. Shall we?" Aizen suggested with a kind smile as I turned to face him.

I wanted to spit at this cold-hearted, manipulative bastard.

Fortunately (for everyone), I was able to hold myself back. Barely.

I reluctantly allowed the ex-captain of Squad 5 lead me to the oblong table situated in the middle of the dark room. I snuck a longing glance at the shadows gathered along the walls, but mentally sighed as I took my seat in an extra chair beside "Master" Aizen. With a swift glance around, I spotted Szayel already sitting in his usual spot. He caught me looking and gave me a brief smile.

I didn't give one back.

"Now, my dear, what is your name?" Aizen inquired conversationally, folding his hands atop a knee with one leg crossed over the other. His smile never faded. He seemed to be ignoring his "dear espada" completely, focusing, instead, on me.

I felt nervous as everyone's eyes turned towards me, all interested in hearing my answers. At first, I didn't want to speak, but then I realized what these guys were capable of and decided I'd rather not die yet.

"Amanda Rae, but I go by 'Crimson'," I replied in my soft, almost-childish voice. I forced myself to keep my eyes focused on Aizen's rather than drift down to my lap like they tended to do.

"Well, _Crimson_," Aizen seemed to find my name humorous. My eyes narrowed at the tone of amusement, but he pretended not to see. "How old are you?"

"I fail to see how that's pertinent," I answered without thinking. That was a touchy subject and I was already on edge about the whole situation. My expression of annoyance instantly turned to one of shock when what I had just said registered in my brain. My eyes must have betrayed my regret because he simply laughed it off. I did not miss the espadas' and Gin's suddenly-tense bodies slowly relax as their leader chuckled at my disrespectful attitude.

"I see. Not a good question to ask, I take it?" At the shake of my head, Aizen continued on with his questioning. "Then I'll move on to the most-important." Aizen's eyes suddenly grew hard and serious as he watched me closely. I remained still, waiting for what I knew he would ask while also knowing that I had no answer for it. "How did you get into Las Noches?"

Everyone was staring at me now, with such intensity that I found myself wondering how I was still able to breathe normally.

I fidgeted in my seat, breaking my gaze away from the leader of the Espada to look down at my lap. "I have no idea," I told him with more confidence than I was currently feeling. "I just woke up there," I spoke truthfully, returning my golden gaze to Aizen's dark eyes. I still didn't like him. In fact, I loathed him. However, if I wanted to survive long enough to have a chance to escape, then I would have to play nice with him. This, of course, meant that I would be unable to tell him any lies, whatsoever. Even if that meant admitting I was just a human. . . .

"Really?" Aizen seemed genuinely surprised. Being the master of deception himself, he could probably easily tell if I was either lying or telling the truth. For once his smug superiority complex was actually a blessing. . . .

I nodded my head in answer to his inquiry, my blue-black hair moving with the motion.

"Are you really a human then? You're reitsu seems no different than the average human," he mused. I couldn't really tell if he was directing the question to me, or if he was simply wondering aloud. I decided to answer just to be safe.

"As far as I know, I am human."

"Interesting," Aizen and Gin both commented at the same time.

Szayel took the brief intermission in order to make his own input. "Actually, I, for one, am not so certain of that fact." Every face in the room turned to the pink-haired arrancar then. His usual smirk played about his lips as he continued. "The data remains incomplete, but a part of this girl is most-definitely _not_ human." Now every head turned back to _me_.

_'Gee. Thanks for that, Szayel,'_ I thought wryly to myself, embarrassment flushing my face a rosy-pink. I really hated being the center of attention. I was more worried about all of the attention rather than that vital piece of information I had just received. To be honest, I didn't really believe what the flamboyant scientist was saying.

"That is intriguing, Szayel," Aizen commended, hand to chin as he contemplated his next move. "I believe it would be best for the girl to remain our guest here at Las Noches."

There were a few disapproving grunts from the espada, but, after Aizen's stern look in their direction, they stopped.

"Ah, but Aizen-sama," Gin started, standing at my side. He leaned down a bit to get closer to Aizen's ear. "It would be best if someone here becomes her guard, wouldn't it?" (A/N: I have no freaking clue how he speaks, so. . .yeah. Basically making up his way of talking, 'kay?). They both turned to look at me.

I struggled not to squirm.

"Yes, that would be a good idea, I suppose," Aizen mumbled beneath his breath, whole-heartedly agreeing with his servant. "But who would be best for the job?" His gaze fell upon his table of espada.

All of them had heard the quiet conversation. Yammy, Zommari and Baraggan were quickly marked off the list, seeing as how they all seemed to be glaring at the young girl. Aaroniero wasn't even considered because, well, that would have just been cruel. Stark certainly couldn't be in the running simply because he slept too much. Harribel and Ulquiorra didn't seem to give a care either way. Nnoitra, on the other hand, seemed interested in the female, but. . .that was because she was female. Szayel, of course, was interested in his new experiment, but he kept himself so busy all the time that Aizen doubted he'd be able to entertain a guest.

That was when Aizen finally noticed a sulking Grimmjow.

"Grimmjow," Aizen addressed, making his decision.

The blue-haired man gave a grimace but looked towards Aizen in a semblance of acknowledgement.

"You will take the girl and keep her protected," he ordered. "There will be several within these walls that will want to harm her since she's _mostly_ human." Aizen's dark eyes flicked over to me, seeing how I responded.

I returned his look with a deadpan expression. I had an odd combination of anger at being referred to in such a derogatory manner and of fear at the consequences of such racial thinking, but I wasn't about to let him know that. . . .

"Tch. Fine," Grimmjow stood up from his seat and started to walk towards the exit. . .which meant he was headed my way.

I instantly stood up as Grimmjow growled at me to follow when he passed by. I didn't even bother to check if Aizen was finished with me before I trailed off after the Sexta Espada.

At least I had gotten away from that traitorous Shinigami for now. And, on top of that, I got to be under the protection of the one Espada I actually had some faith in.

I only glanced back once at the double doors as Grimmjow and I entered the blinding, white hall. I did kind of miss Szayel, though. . . .

"Hurry up, girl!" the Sexta Espada shouted at me from way up ahead, about to turn a corner.

I spun around and sprinted towards him. I completely missed the shock in the arrancar's eyes as I effortlessly ate up the distance between us. "Gomen," I muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

He simply grunted and moved on.

I followed. I could already feel myself falling into a routine as we walked through the winding halls of Las Noches. And, for some reason, all I could think of was: _'Good Evening, Starlight.'_


	2. Morning, Sunshine!

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Bleach_. I just own Crimson and Jen._

_Crimson: Crimson is me. I guess that's kind of obvious, though. . . . Jen is my sister. I thought it would be fun to create a story together (even though I am the one writing it -_-;;)._

_Jen: That's because I can't write. . . ._

_Crimson: No, you just don't _want_ to write. . . . Lazy. . . ._

_Jen: **hits Crimson over the head**_

_Crimson: OW! You violent, little. . . ._

_Jen: READ ON!_

_Crimson: **in background** Hey! That's my line!_

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**Chapter Two–**

**Morning, Sunshine!**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

**.::Jen; 3rd person POV::.**

Dark-brown eyes slowly looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Nearly everything was white with a few pale blues and tans. A few scrolls and tapestries hung on the walls, proudly sporting Japanese calligraphy. But it was one symbol in particular that caught her attention.

"Four?" the young girl mumbled, recognizing the elegant strokes of the Japanese character. It was on a square sheet of white paper pasted just above the only door in the sparse room. The only reason she knew it was thanks to that favorite anime show of hers. . . .

She groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her muscles ached and her entire body throbbed like one big bruise. She felt like someone had run over her with a truck then proceeded to beat her like a rug, and _then_ tossed her battered body into a dryer on the "gentle" cycle. . . .

And, no, she had no idea where she got this imagination from. . . .

"I see that you are awake," a feminine voice declared from one side of the spacious room. The blonde turned her head back to the door, having glanced to the window in the midst of her musings. What she saw there brought a small gasp to her lips.

"I am Retsu Unohana," the black-haired beauty greeted as she gracefully made her way into the bedroom. It didn't take her long to reach the girl's bedside. "Are you feeling alright? Not dizzy, or anything?" the woman asked in a motherly croon as she placed a slim hand to the younger girl's forehead. The coolness of her palm felt refreshing against the girl's warm skin. Unohana's perfect face creased in worry. "You do have a slight fever, but I suppose that would be expected," she noted mysteriously. She removed her touch from her patient's skin, her concerned look switching over to a warm smile.

The blonde could do little more than stare at the familiar face right there in front of her. She couldn't believe it. It just wasn't possible. No freaking way!

"What is it?" Unohana questioned, catching sight of the shocked expression on the girl's face. She still had her smile in place, but Unohana couldn't prevent that trickle of confusion from entering her blue eyes.

The girl still sitting in the bed squeaked at the unexpected inquiry, automatically yanking up the white sheets that covered her up to her chin. A red blush blossomed in her cheeks as the embarrassment at realizing she had been staring made itself known.

"G-gomen," the small girl muttered into the folds of the pristine fabric gathered in her clenched hands. Her grip tightened as Unohana chuckled at such cute innocence.

"What is your name, little one?" Unohana asked, deciding to switch subjects so as to make her guest feel a little more comfortable. She swept down to sit on the bed at the blonde's side in an effort to be more at her eye level. This girl looked so small and frail. She seemed to be around the Tenth Captain's height, even. . . .

"My name's Jen," the blonde replied. She had given the woman her nickname rather than her real one. She didn't want anyone to make the mistake of calling her by her given name, even if it was just to be polite. Nicknames were just fine, in her eyes. . . .

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Jen," Unohana greeted formally, giving a slight bow to show her respect. Jen copied the movement quickly, not wanting to seem rude. Unohana did find it odd that this girl had only presented one name rather than the customary two, but she didn't want to press the issue. Instead, she moved on.

"Well, Jen," Unohana started, getting up from her place at the girl's side. "I need you to come with me right away." The kind-hearted healer waited patiently as Jen–slowed down by confusion–slipped out from under the covers to stand up on the blue-tiled floor.

An unexpected coolness penetrated the soles of her feet, causing Jen to glance down. With a start, she realized that she was barefoot. She still wore the loose, black pants and form-fitting white T-shirt she had dressed in earlier that day, but her black flip-flops had suddenly disappeared.

"We can get you proper attire later," Unohana interjected into her thoughts, believing that that was why Jen had hesitated. "For now, we really must go." She didn't want to seem "bossy", but the Fourth Squad's Captain didn't have much time to spare. With her trademark smile in place, she eased the new girl out of the room and down a series of hallways. She fought back an amused chuckle as she watched Jen stare around at her new surroundings with an expression of awe on her face.

It wasn't long before the pair reached a set of double doors deep within the Seireitei. Unohana offered a nervous Jen a reassuring grin before stepping in front of her to proceed inside first. The gigantic doors–looking as unmovable as mountains–eased their way open without the Captain even having to lay a finger on them. Jen stared before her in wonder at the woman who had led her here.

She had just found a new-found respect for the captain of the Fourth Division. Not like she hadn't had it before, but. . .it was certainly waaaaay different to witness such spectacles in person rather than on the television screen. . . .

Unohana turned to face her, giving a slight wave of her hand to motion her in. Jen followed reluctantly, well-aware of what waited for her on the other side. Her arms trembled with the nerves that had been steadily growing inside of her ever since she had first woken up in this strange-yet-familiar place. What would she say? How should she act? What the heck did they want? All these questions fluttered about in her mind as she slipped behind Unohana's retreating back, desperate to find some solace in the taller woman's presence. The most important question reverberated throughout the halls of her mind, overpowering all others:

_How did she get here?_

Jen flinched as a powerful force crashed into her suddenly when Unohana stepped aside to reveal her to the court of Captains. She immediately pinpointed the origin of such a disturbance, zeroing in on the elderly form of Yamamoto, the Captain of the First Squad and the Head Captain of Soul Society. A shiver ran up her spine as his disturbingly-sharp eyes bore into her dark-brown gaze. It felt like he was rummaging around in her soul. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. . . .

"Is this the girl?" a familiar voice broke Jen's concentration away from the Head Captain. She browsed the room with her searching eyes, just then noticing they weren't alone. The other Captains were all gathered in this meeting room, as well. They made two straight lines on either side of Yamamoto. Each one of them stood tall and regal, proud of their rank and the power that got them there.

Jen's eyes instantly made out the speaker, blushing a bit when she caught sight of the ice-blue eyes and white hair of Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of the Tenth Division. She didn't miss the fact that he was eerily close to her height of 4'5", albeit she _was_ thinner than him but only because she hadn't had the pleasure of eating proper meals as of late.

"Yes," Unohana spoke up from Jen's side, apparently none-too-eager to leave the poor girl alone in a room full of strangers. Jen wanted to hide from all the eyes on her, but refrained from hiding behind her role-model's robes for fear of being considered "pathetic". "Her name is 'Jen'."

Well, looks like she wouldn't have to talk much, huh? Jen silently thanked the dark-haired woman for speaking up for her. Shyness was a curse which ran through her family like wildfire. . . .

"Good morning, then, Jen-san," Shunsui of the Eighth Squad spoke up first. He raised a large hand into the air in a brief salute of greeting. A huge grin spread across his laidback features as Jen's blush intensified at the unexpected outburst.

Jen tried inclined her head at the older man to indicate that she had heard his salutation. She had no desire to brush anyone off, but no words could snake past the sudden lump in her throat.

"Hn. She doesn't look all that powerful," Kenpachi Zaraki of the Eleventh Division complained. The little bells on the tips of his spiked hair jingled as he moved his head to give her a cursory glance. He said no more, seeing as how he was no longer interested in an-obviously weak opponent.

Jen felt anger flush her cheeks, but she pushed back the desire to pout. Being called weak was something she didn't take lightly. However, she'd let it pass this time only because she was new here and had no clue what was going on.

"Good morning, Jen-san," another familiar face smiled kindly down at her. It was Ukitake of the Squad Thirteen. He had a pale, sickly complexion, but at least he wasn't coughing up blood today. Even with the whiteness of his skin, he still looked _bishounen_.

Jen offered him a shy smile. The man reminded her strongly of someone's father. He just had that _air_ about him. . . .

"Now that everyone's here," Yamamoto started up, instantly getting everyone's attention. "We shall finish the last piece of business." He then proceeded to eye the two lines of captains on either side of the room. He seemed to be looking for something.

_'Last piece?'_ Jen thought to herself, wondering what had happened to the rest of the meeting. They must have been wrapping it up when she and Unohana had entered.

With a quick glance around, Jen noticed how some of the people gathered there quickly cast down their eyes whenever Yamamoto's gaze passed over them. Since she was particularly bored and could do nothing else, Jen decided to name those who avoided Yamamoto's eyes.

_'Soi Fon, Byakuya Kuchiki, Sajin Komamura, and Kenpachi Zaraki. Huh? Wonder why they all looked away?'_ Jen then took note of how what captains were left were sneaking curious glances at her. She shivered at the maniacal gleam in the Twelfth Squad's Captain, Mayuri Kurotschi's eyes. He obviously had several experiments lined up in that light-bulb head of his for her. _'Oh, that's right,' _Jen reminded herself. She remembered just in the nick of time where she was before she could smack herself in the head for being an idiot. _'His name's 'Light-Bulb Head'.'_ The small smirk pulling at her lips could not be restrained as she recalled her nickname for the mad scientist.

Ukitake was watching her with kind, fatherly eyes. A hint of worry seemed to be burning within their depths. What he was concerned about, she hadn't a clue. It kind of unnerved her so she moved on. Shunsui had that same look in his eyes. The two close friends tossed each other a glance so Jen moved on to the last person. The one she had been trying to avoid eye contact with. . . .

Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya was staring at her without letting up. His cold, blue eyes looked right at through her, but not as if he was simply ignoring her. He seemed genuinely puzzled about something and was lost in his own little world trying to figure out the puzzle. The white spikes of his hair looked soft to the touch, making Jen wonder just how soft they truly were. She could feel the heat gathering in her face and new she was blushing madly, but she could not, for the life of her, pull her gaze away from the young "genius".

Yamamoto cleared his throat meaningfully. All eyes snapped back to him.

It would seem he had made his decision.

"Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya?" he called out, clear eyes watching the youngest of them step out of his line to face the head captain.

"Yes, Captain Yamamoto?" the young man questioned patiently.

"You will guard the girl. Train her so that she may be strong enough," Yamamoto ordered, not bothering to elaborate the details for Jen's sake.

Jen, at first, was confused, but when she realized just who she would end up seeing every day, she felt a nauseating wave of excitement mixed with trepidation crash into her.

"Yes, sir," Hitsugaya bowed, not revealing any sign of his inner turmoil. He was still puzzled by the command but would not dare refute it.

Yamamoto then signaled the end of the meeting, dismissing all the captains. Hitsugaya was the first out the door. He had grabbed Jen's wrist on the way by. Even though the girl stumbled for a bit, he did not slow his brisk speed. The rest of the captains were undoubtedly just as curious as he was about the newcomer, and Hitsugaya did not want to waste any time with "show-and-tell".

He probably had a large amount of paperwork on his desk thanks to Matsumoto, his lieutenant. Even though he _had_ told her to stay put in the office until _after_ the meeting. . . .

"Captain!" that familiar, high-pitched voice trilled on the morning air.

Toshiro Hitsugaya twitched. He had just been proven right. . . .

"I just finished all my paperwork," Rangiku Matsumoto sang.

That had to be a lie. It just had to be. . . .

"You have no idea how hard it was," the blonde continued, wiping imaginary sweat from her brown with her arm.

Wanna bet. . . .?

"Anyway–oh! Who's this?" Rangiku cut herself off as she just then noticed the young blonde standing beside her captain.

Jen turned red as she lid her wrist out of Hitsugaya's warm hand and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm Jen."

Hitsugaya spared the newcomer a curious glance. He hadn't heard her speak yet. She had such a soft, musical voice. With a slight widening of his eyes, he also noticed that she was barely an inch taller than him. He hadn't met anyone other than little kids who matched his height so closely.

"Aw! How cute!" Rangiku squealed, diving forward to give his new charge a tight hug. Hitsugaya had to force back a laugh at the look of terror on Jen's face seconds before she disappeared in the older Shinigami's rather-large chest.

"Matsumoto, we're headed back to the office," Hitsugaya reminded in his usual cold tone.

Rangiku only gave him a pout at his seriousness before releasing her prisoner from her suffocating embrace.

Jen sucked in the gulps of fresh air gratefully, making a mental note to not get hugged by Rangiku in the future without an oxygen tank. . . .

"Hey," the tall blonde's voice suddenly broke into Jen's thoughts. She glanced up to see something she'd never dreamed she'd ever see.

A solemn-faced Rangiku.

"Is that all you have to wear?" she asked.

Jen looked down at her plain outfit for a second before returning her gaze to the lieutenant and nodding. The next thing she knew, she was being dragged down the hall by an overly-excited Rangiku who was pumping her arm in the air.

"We're going shopping!" she sang back to Captain Hitsugaya who was left standing in the middle of the hallway with a look of disbelief on his face.

His lieutenant could certainly be fast when she wanted to get out of doing paperwork. . . .


	3. New Girl Meets Smart Bastard

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Bleach_. I do, however, own both Crimson and Jen–the OCs in this story._

_Jen: Hey! You don't own me!_

_Crimson: I own your character._

_Jen: Nuh-uh!_

_Crimson: Hell yeah, I do. You aren't writing this story:P_

_Jen: But I'm paying you for it._

_Crimson: . . .that's beside the point. You're paying me because you want the next chapter out. . . ._

_Jen: Yeah, and?_

_Crimson: -.-;; **sighs** I have no idea._

_Jen: Brain-dead again, huh? READ ON!_

_Crimson: I'm bringing Sanzo in next time to scare the living daylights out of you. . . .I don't own _Saiyuki, _either._

_

* * *

_

**Chapter Three–**

**New Girl Meets Smart Bastard**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

**.::My (Crimson's) POV::.**

White.

White, white, white, and more freaking white.

Why did everything have to be so bright here?

I sighed as I walked along the hallways of Las Noches–my new home. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours yet since I had first been placed under Grimmjow's care, and already I found this place VERY boring. . .

Of course, Grimmjow keeping me locked up in his quarters all day (or night. I couldn't tell what time of day it was with the moonlight always streaming in through the windows) didn't help alleviate the monotony of Aizen's self-proclaimed "palace". He had pounded into my head (not literally, of course. Apparently, he had a soft spot for girls "like me". I didn't dare ask what he meant by that just in case I'd get in a pissy mood depending on his answer. . . .). . . .

Uh, where was I again? Oh, right!

Anyway, Grimmjow feared that some of the other arrancar wandering about Hueco Mundo would not take kindly to finding a _human_ roaming the halls of their castle by _it_self. Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled to be referred to as an "it"; and, if the Sexta Espada saw my agitated expression, then he sure as hell didn't comment about it. I had kept my mouth shut and had nodded to show that I had heard him. It was all I could do with the current predicament I had found myself in. The knowledge that Grimmjow was simply trying to protect me ingrained itself into my skull, reminding me not to disregard his warnings as flimsy precautions. It was imperative that I not leave his sight in this place, if I wanted to keep my life.

The problem was. . .I got bored.

Grimmjow had fallen asleep a couple of hours after the meeting with Aizen. He had led me to where his rooms were located. Good thing for me that there were two separate bedrooms, connected by a simple, brown door. I have no clue why he had two rooms to begin with, but he did. He had given me a short description of the living situation: I would be in the room on the left and he would be in the one on the right. The only difference between the two was a silver number "6" nailed on his door. Other than that, inside and out, both chambers had appeared identical. I had been thrilled to see that the inside of the rooms were remarkably similar to the "Conference Room" where Aizen always met with his beloved Espada. The walls, ceiling, and floor of my room were pure-black. Needless to say, I had absolutely loved it. Even the bed–pushed against one corner of the room, and lying underneath a large rectangular window–had midnight-black sheets. The only oddities of the room had been the two white pillows at the head of the mattress and a plush, blood-red loveseat set against one wall. The other furniture in the little room had consisted of a dresser and a gigantic wardrobe. Both seemed to have been made from some kind of rich, dark wood.

After spending a few minutes looking around my new room, I had gone to see what else I could do. Grimmjow–apparently exhausted–had simply told me to play alone in my room so he could get some shut-eye. After two hours of doing absolutely nothing on the thick carpet of my room, I had decided to strike out on my own.

And here we are now. Now you are all up-to-date. Yipee. . . . Damn, that only took a couple minutes to explain. Now what was I supposed to do?

I released yet another weary sigh. Even walking around these maze-like hallways was tedious, but at least it was something to do.

Unfortunately, it didn't take me more than five minutes to get lost. . . .

"Crap," I mumbled to myself under my breath, halting when I reached a crossroads. I looked left, right, and then, finally, in front of me. This didn't look familiar, which could be either a good sign or a bad sign. Good, considering I haven't come upon a four-way route just three-way ones, so at least I wasn't going around in circles. Bad, because this meant I wasn't anywhere close to finding my way back to Grimmjow's quarters. I wasn't too worried since I'd only been gone for an hour or so. The Sexta Espada most-definitely had not awoken from his nap yet. At least, I hoped not. Who knew what kind of trouble I would be in if I got caught disobeying his first (and, so far, only) rule?

"Which way do I go?" I asked aloud to no one in particular. Closing my eyes, I allowed my body to relax. One after the other, my muscles went slack until my entire body felt like it was floating on air. I forced back wandering thoughts before they could trip up the feeling of tranquility that swept into me with each deep breath. My veins felt like charged particles flowed through them, electrifying all of my senses but my closed, physical eyes.

My hearing heightened, but it did me no good.

Not a sound filled this white oblivion anywhere nearby.

My nose flared, catching different scents, but that, too, failed to give me proper direction.

It would do me no good to follow someone's smell when I knew none here.

I then forced all my concentration into the last sense. The most-important one. The awareness that worked directly with my Inner Eye.

The sense of touch.

My skin prickled at something in the air. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as a cold, brisk breeze blew through my knee-length black hair. I strained to open my slit Inner Eye, but barely got it to blink.

_'Focus. Focus,'_ I chanted to myself in my head, trying to pinpoint the source of this disturbance. One of these passages was the one I should not, by any means, take. I desperately needed to find out _which_ one.

A sudden, violent shriek tore through my mind, causing me to abruptly cut off the connection. I whimpered as I snapped down to the floor in a crouched position, cradling my physical ears as my head rang with the unworldly echoes.

"Ooooowww," I moaned aloud, massaging the sides of my head in an effort to ease the pain still resonating inside. I sure as hell hadn't expected _that_. Speaking of, what the hell _was_ that? I had never before experienced such a thing. . .although, it _did_ sound sort of familiar. . . .

As I pondered to myself about what had just happened, I failed to notice three pairs of footsteps reverberating off the walls down one of the hallways. By the time voices joined the footfalls, it was already too late to make a clean escape.

"What the hell is _that_?" someone from my left announced their presence.

I shuddered at the iciness in the tone, but I did not recognize the voice. When I turned to look, however, my eyes widened in surprise.

_'Oh, shit!' _I cursed in my thoughts. There, standing not ten feet from me, were three faces I sure as hell did _not_ want to see. . . .

Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila-Rose. Tia Harribel's fracción.

I forced back a gulp of fear, thoughts of what my sister had told me about these three human-haters swirling in my head. Although I had yet to reach the part of the anime and the part of the manga where these three came into play, I had looked them up on-line. Thanks to my strange obsession with research, I knew who was who based on appearances. I also had basic knowledge of what each one's personality was like. Hopefully, I could use that information to my advantage. . .somehow.

Apache was a tomboyish arrancar with heterochromia (meaning she has two differently-colored eyes). The right eye had an ice-blue iris while the left had an amber iris. Another odd thing about her was that she had red outlining her left eye. Her blue hair hung jaw-length, and the remnants of her hollow mask on the top of her head reminded me of a unicorn with the way it had a horn growing out of it. She wore the customary white of the arrancar uniform, but it was customized with shoulder-length sleeves, gloves and collars on her wrists. If I recalled correctly, her personality was more hot-headed and volatile than either of her comrades. I'd have to walk on glass if I wanted to appease her. . . .

Sun-Sun was a slender female arrancar with flowing olive-green hair, long eyelashes, and three pink dots just below her right eye. She had lavender-colored eyes. Her mask remnants created three hair clip-like extensions on the right side of her bangs. She wore a furry black necklace around her neck, her uniform consisting of a white dress with sleeves that extended well past her hands with a single slit in each one. I easily recalled her intelligent, elegant characteristics, watching as the young woman held her concealed hands over her mouth in a lady-like way.

Mila-Rose was a dark-skinned arrancar who dressed like an Amazon warrior and even had one's toned body. She had long, thick, wavy brown hair and green eyes. Her mask fragments formed a three-sectioned crown around her head and a thick necklace. Her Hollow hole was positioned midway between her navel and breasts. With the way she dressed, she sort of reminded me of a dark-version of Rangiku Matsumoto. She also had large breasts. . . . This girl's personality was supposed to be a calmer version of Apache's.

"It looks to be nothing more than a human," Sun-Sun's soft voice pointed out first.

I tensed up, ready to spring. The girl's companions glanced at each other for a brief moment before acquiring twin evil grins of mischief on their faces.

I _ran_.

It took a few long seconds before the three girls even realized I was already gone. It didn't take much longer after that for them to start up the pursuit.

_'Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Oh, shit!'_ I screamed over and over again in my head, sprinting down a random hallway. My lungs burned as I sped up to my fastest pace. I regulated my breathing to match each step I took in an effort to increase my chances of escape. The lean muscles in my thighs, stomach, and calves worked in overtime to help with those chances. I thanked the spirits that I had taken to running every morning since moving to the city.

My golden eyes caught sight of a side hallway that branched off the one I was currently speeding down. Something sparked in the pit of my stomach and I instantly veered off in that direction, obeying my gut instinct. As I turned, my panicked gaze spotted my three pursuers just a few yards behind me. Even though it was taking them much longer than I had expected, Harribel's fracción were steadily gaining on me.

Since my eyes were focused on the three behind me, I didn't notice the person turning the corner up ahead. With a rather-painful crash, I lost my footing and flew forward several feet. The person whom I had crashed into came with me. . . .

A strangled yelp issued from my throat as I slammed into an unyielding surface. The impact jarred my bones and made my head snap back painfully, but, by some miracle, I survived the collision.

Still high on adrenaline, I made a speedy recovery. I sat up, rubbing the side of my face while squinting out of teary eyes. Glancing down to see who my unfortunate victim had been, I felt my body freeze up. Nothing–not even the random shouts from the three females closing in on the corner I had just rounded–could get me moving now. . . .

I had just run into Luppi, himself. . . .

"Ow! What the hell?" the androgynous arrancar complained, rubbing the front of his skull. His violet eyes glared up at me, a look of murder on his face.

It took me a few seconds to realize what my position on him was.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" I cried instantly, crawling off him as I realized the hard surface I had thought had been the floor had actually been his chest. . . .

"Gomen! Gomenasai! I wasn't watching where I was going!" I continued in a string of incoherent babble. A smooth, slender hand gripped my mouth, effectively halting my numerous apologies.

"It's nothing. Anyone who apologizes as much as you _must_ be sorry," Luppi said, aggravated. He only removed his hand from my lips after giving me one last withering glare.

I bit the inside of my cheek after that, feeling uncomfortable with saying anything else. Unable to look him in the eye, I didn't catch the spark of interest in his violet gaze.

"Hurry up, Sun-Sun!" Apache's irate voice drew nearer, reminding me I still had a problem on my hands.

I whirled around, fear evident in my eyes. They hadn't made it around the corner yet, which surprised me. This contact with Luppi hadn't lasted near as long as I had thought it had.

That's it! Luppi!

Before the slender arrancar had a chance to move, I gripped the front of his shirt. The desperation in my eyes was enough to get the surprised youth to stop struggling with my unexpected hold.

"Please! Please! Please! Help me!" I begged, throwing dignity to the wind. What good would pride do if I was dead? "Help me get away from those guys–girls," I corrected automatically, not really knowing why I was bothering with grammar at this critical time. "I'll do _anything_ you say! Please, help!"

The three different pairs of footsteps drew dangerously closer, their speed picking up as their prey's scent strengthened. I trembled, waiting with bated breath for the boy's reply. I didn't know why I was asking for his help. Being a mere human, this arrancar should gladly throw me to the wolves. But. . .I _needed_ him. What else could I do? There was no way I was going to escape the those three on my own. . . .

"Deal," he agreed, taking hold of my hand. Before I knew it, Luppi and I disappeared within the dark confines of some broom cupboard that I hadn't noticed. I waited as three familiar reitsu flew by us, fading down the end of the hall. If we had hesitated a second longer, I would have been caught. . . .

With the immediate danger slowly making its way out of my radar, I found myself focusing intently on my position with Luppi. Although I could make out next to nothing in this sudden darkness, I could certainly _feel_ everything pressed against me. The touch of his arm wrapped securely around my shoulders, holding me against his chest made me blush. I thanked the gods the shadows of this closet concealed the red tint in my cheeks. My left leg awkwardly hung over one of his while my right looped around his other side. This left me sitting on his lap, my front facing his front. One arm still clung to the front of his shirt, squashed between our bodies. My other hand squeezed his free hand off to our sides, clenching automatically as my muscles stiffened at the awkwardness of this situation. The warmth of his body–stuffed in such a small space–washed over me, raising my normally-low body temperature to an oddly-pleasant degree. His breath ruffled the black hair on the top of my head, proving he was taller than me. . .at least, while sitting down. I hadn't really bothered to notice his actual height earlier. I had been a little preoccupied at the time.

"Looks like they're gone, doll," Luppi's boyish voice broke through the silence of the small, crowded space.

I only focused on one word. _'Doll?'_

Luppi eased open the cupboard door, and, without bothering to look around, he pulled the two of us back out into the white hallway.

I cringed at the pain that hit my eyes from all the glaring white. Ugh. I hated this stuff!

"So where were we?" Luppi asked me in a tone of voice that instantly made me go into high alert.

This can't be good. . . .

Luppi leaned over far enough so that his face could be at eye-level with mine. Our noses barely had an inch of space between them, making me back into the wall in an attempt to get away. It never occurred to me to move to one side or the other to escape the close proximity; and Luppi never bothered to bar my possible escape routes with his arms on either side. The only thought that ran through my mind in a continuous loop was that he was way too close. . . .

"You promised to do _anything_ for me if I saved you from those girls," Luppi reminded me, stressing the word "anything". His smirk widened when he saw recognition spark in my golden eyes.

Crap. Had I really said that? Usually, I kept my begging limited to "almost anything". Just my luck to make a slip-up _now_. . . .

"You're going to be my personal slave, Doll," Luppi finalized with a smug grin.

I tensed up. Just what did he mean by "slave"? What on _earth_ could an arrancar have me doing here? It wasn't like they ate or anything, right? Well, judging by this androgynous youth's spirit pressure, I was certainly going to find out. . .or die for being disobedient. . . .

"Um, alright," I agreed uncertainly, brushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear. I looked away from his intense gaze as I tried not to think of the ways a "slave" could possibly be of use in this place. I just prayed that it had nothing to do with target practice. . . .

"Oh!" something came crashing into my head just then. I spun around to face the feminine arrancar. "I need to get back now, though," I informed a surprised Luppi. He must have expected a completely-different reaction for his request for he was too dumbfounded to speak. "Would you happen to know the way to Grimmjow's quarters?" I asked him, not bothering to use an honorific for my bodyguard. It just wouldn't sound right if I did, and, plus, I didn't think Grimmjow would be too thrilled anyway. He had told me, specifically, to call him "Grimmjow", and I wasn't about to test how far his patience could stretch.

"Grimmjow?" Luppi mulled the name over for a moment. His thoughtful expression slowly transformed into one of loathing and disgust. "Yes, I know where his _quarters_ are," he spat. He then eyed me curiously. "But why are you with _him_?"

Was that my imagination or did his voice have a hint of _jealousy_ to it? Wow, he must have _really_ wanted a seat in the Espada to hate one so much. . . .

"Um," I started but stopped. What was I supposed to say? As far as I knew, only the Espada, Gin, and Aizen knew for certain that I was human. I had no clue what they had told the other arrancar in Aizen's army. Well, I supposed I'd have to give out as little information as possible without seeming too suspicious. Yay, lying was my favorite game. . . .

"Well, Aizen-sama has placed me under Grimmjow's care," I enlightened, remembering just in time to add the honorific to Aizen's name. I refrained from snorting the moment I said it, though.

"Ah, so Grimmjow finally has a fracción," Luppi commented.

He came to the wrong conclusion, but I certainly wasn't going to correct him.

"Whatever. Come on." And with that, the young arrancar grabbed my hand and started to pull me down the hallways.

I still felt like we were walking through a maze, and I didn't notice anything familiar until we were standing in front of a pair of doors. I perked up when I noticed the silver number six on one.

"Thank you so much!" I cried, glomping an unsuspecting Luppi. He teetered a little bit, wrapping a steadying arm around my waist as my hug threatened to topple the two of us to the tiled floor.

"Uh, no problem," Luppi responded awkwardly. He didn't know what else to say or do. A light coloring flushed his cheeks, and he turned away so I couldn't see it.

"Oh, I forgot," I mumbled to myself, hand on the doorknob to my room. I turned back to Luppi before he could walk off. "My name's Crimson, by the way," I introduced myself, giving a slight bow to the black-haired, violet-eyed arrancar.

Luppi stopped a few feet away. Without turning around, he called back, "Luppi." He then walked away.

I didn't need him to say his name, considering I already knew it, but that didn't stop the little smile from playing over my lips when he did.

I turned back to my door, about to step over the threshold, when two words left my mouth as I thought back to his demand. "Smart bastard."


	4. Secret Weapons

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Bleach_. Tite Kubo does. I do, however, own both Crimson and Jen–the OCs in this story and the story concept._

_Crimson: What the hell? **stares with mouth agape**_

_Sanzo: **playing cards with Jen** Yo._

_Jen: **happily** Hey, Sis!_

_Crimson: T.T_

_Jen: Why are you crying?_

_Crimson: This wasn't supposed to happen. . . **points an accusing finger at Sanzo** You! Where the hell is your gun?_

_Sanzo: **shrugs** the War-Prince took it. **continues to play cards with Jen**_

_Crimson: Damn that Nataku! **shakes fist dramatically in air** Wait. . .just how many boyfriends does my sister have? O.o_

_Jen: **happily** READ ON! Btw, Crimson Elemental Alchemist does not own Sanzo, Nataku, or anyone else from _SaiYuki_, either!_

* * *

**Chapter Four–**

**Secret Weapons**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

**.::Jen; 3rd person POV::.**

"Um. Rangiku-san?" Jen mumbled nervously, speaking just loud enough for the blonde to hear her.

"Yes? What is it, Jen-chan?" the lieutenant of the Tenth Squad asked with a huge grin. It had taken her maybe five minutes to add the "-chan" to the young girl's name. Her piercing blue eyes appraised the younger girl as she modeled the blue _kimono _for her. Intricate white flowers trailed along the bottom of the robe, snaking all the way up to her trim waist only to disappear beneath the yellow _obi_. The soft, robin's-egg blue had been a good idea. It certainly complemented the girl's sandy-blonde hair.

"Is this really alright?" She tossed a worried glance over at the large pile of bags and parcels they had already purchased. "I mean, this is a _lot_ of stuff. . . ." she trailed off, a sweatdrop rolling down the side of her face. She had already had the "necessities" (Rankgiku's definition, not hers): several changes of clothes (about three-weeks' worth); several pieces of jewelry ranging from earrings (although she didn't even have her ears _pierced_), to necklaces and various bracelets; the lieutenant's favorite brand of makeup; and a couple bottles of _sake_. Jen already had the sneaking suspicion that the last item on this list was for Rangiku. She certainly wasn't going to touch the stuff. Sixteen years old was hardly the age to start drinking. . . .

"Of course it is!" Rangiku cried out happily. Digging into the folds of her shirt's wide sleeve, she withdrew a small, rectangular piece which greatly resembled a credit card. "We've got _plenty_ of credits so don't hold back!" she grinned, showing off her pearl-white teeth.

Jen sweatdropped once again, knowing that the busty blonde would charge all of their purchases to the Tenth Squad's line of credit.

Captain Hitsugaya was _not_ going to like this….

* * *

"So where do you come from, Jen-chan?" Rangiku asked the short girl as they walked through the confusing streets of the Seireitei. They had just finished catching a quick lunch at a local café after spending about five hours of non-stop shopping. Jen had been surprised at how good the food had tasted, considering this was a place for human souls….

"Well, I was originally from America," the young blonde informed the female Shinigami, glancing up at the taller woman from over her pile of bags and boxes. Exertion colored her cheeks a bright red from the effort of carrying all the stuff they had bought. She pouted when she saw that Rangiku's own load didn't seem to bother the lieutenant at all even though it was nearly three times as large as hers!

"Originally?" Rangiku repeated, lifting an eyebrow in question.

She didn't miss much, did she?

Jen nodded her head in answer. "Yeah," she finally spoke, wondering how best to explain the situation. "My older sister and I moved to Japan about a month ago. . . ." she trailed off then, dark-brown eyes widening when what she had just said finally sunk in.

Her sister! What had happened to her sister?

Her shoulders dropped and her gaze fell back to the box of makeup teetering dangerously on the top of her shopping bags.

Maybe she was still back there–at their little apartment, wondering where _she_ was? Was she worried? Scared? Maybe she had come to the conclusion that _they_ had come to retrieve Jen, snatching her away from her caring older sibling. . . .

"Jen-chan? Jen-chan?" Rangiku's concerned voice broke through her troubled thoughts. Dark-brown eyes blinked twice in rapid succession before drifting back up to the Shinigami's own pale-blue ones.

"Oh? Sorry," she muttered when she realized she had temporarily spaced out. She shook her head to rid herself of further unwanted feelings. "Anyway, we moved due to family reasons. My sister and I have always loved Japan, and, when she got an opportunity to work in Tokyo, we jumped at the chance to move here."

"What did your boyfriend think about that?" Rangiku asked out-of-the-blue.

Jen blinked.

"Um. I've never had one. . . ." the younger blonde mumbled. Puzzlement spread across her soft features at the expression of awe overcoming the more-developed woman. Oh, wait…she'd seen that look before. It wasn't good. One of her friends back home always got the same expression whenever she was in one of her "moods". And any person within five miles of her who had no "significant other" could literally _feel_ the brainstorm in the air….

And she had just admitted that she was single….

"That's no good! No good at all!" Rangiku ranted, shaking her head in pity for the poor loveless kid at her side. "A pretty girl like you should have plenty of guys hammering down your door!" The 10th Division Lieutenant glanced down at the teenager, a sudden spark in her light-blue eyes. A thoughtful expression settled over her features, making Jen squirm uncomfortably beneath the weight of her several bags and boxes.

"Well, it's not all that bad," she quickly interjected, intent on steering the conversation away from her love life (or lack thereof). "I mean, my older sister has never had one either…." Again, she felt a pain in her chest. The mere thought of her eldest sibling roused an odd combination of guilt and curiosity. The missing details about what had happened to her gnawed her insides like a hungry coyote. Had she been taken, too? Or had she simply been left behind to wander where she, Jen, was? The blonde didn't know what she preferred. She almost prayed that her elder sister _had_ been kidnapped, like her, (still safe, though) instead of the alternative….

"Wha? Seriously?" Rangiku practically screeched, eyes wide with shock. She looked truly appalled at the fact Jen had just presented. "Man! No wonder you don't have a guy," she whined with an exasperated glance at the sky. "With someone you look up to not having one, either…. If I knew your sister, I'd set her up, too…." she hummed aloud, but mostly to herself.

Jen stared at her, mouth slightly agape. Please, please, _please_, tell her she had just heard wrong! Rangiku-san would "set her up, _too_"? Was she seriously planning on forcing a guy onto her? Granted, she would love to have a boyfriend; but she'd prefer it to be on her terms. Besides, knowing what she knew about Rangiku…well, she didn't have much faith in her dating skills. The blonde excelled in the drinking area of life, but match-making…?

"So you're finally back?" a deep voice spoke in front of her, making her snap her head up in attention.

When had they gotten to the 10th Division barracks? Pink stained her cheeks when she caught the familiar teal-blue eyes staring at her. Jen ducked her head behind a bag from the store "Extravagance" where she had purchased a wide variety of jewelry and makeup, her favorite being a snowflake necklace with a blue crystal at its center.

"G-gomen, taichou," Jen apologized with a stutter, unable to bring herself to even call him by his last name. She could barely speak past the abrupt tightness in her throat and the lack of oxygen in her lungs. Intent on keeping her legs from turning to jelly beneath her, the blonde failed to notice the knowing spark in the lieutenant's eyes.

"It is not your fault," Hitsugaya breathed, mildly curious as to why the girl hid her face. He turned a withering glare upon his lieutenant a second later when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. "Matsumoto," he growled low in warning. The well-endowed blonde flinched at the icy tone of his voice, but spun around to face her captain, acting as if she was _not_ just about to sneak away….

"Yes, Captain?" she piped up in a cheerful voice. Nothing could dim her mood right now. This day had been so eventful what with their new unexpected squad member, the previous shopping spree (using 10th division credit), and, now, the blossoming of a wondrous plan for her new vic-uh, _friend_….

Hitsugaya's glare intensified at the series of strange expressions passing over his subordinate's features, but decided to disregard it. After all, he had some business to attend to and would rather get it over with as quickly as possible so that he could get back to the mountain of paperwork in his office.

"Jen," the young, white-haired captain addressed, returning his unsettling gaze to the smaller blonde. He forced back a chuckle when the young girl jumped almost a foot in the air, dropping most of her cargo in the process. Fortunately, everything remained in their bags and just made a large pile in the middle of the hallway. He'd get Rangiku to pick it up later when he saw how red her face was from the effort of carrying such a load. A faint trickle of admiration ran through him at the sight. He didn't think a normal human would have been able to lift such an enormous amount of stuff. His eyes narrowed when he realized something.

"How much did you buy, Rangiku?"

For the second time that day, Rangiku flinched but spoke, nonetheless, "Oh, just the necessities." She waved it off, not bothering to go into details. "So what were you going to say, Captain?"

Hitsugaya Toshiro acquired a skeptical expression, but moved on. "Jen," he repeated, turning his attention back to his charge. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her body stiffen instantly and her red face darken by at least ten shades. Shaking it off, he raised the thin, long object he held in his hands that neither of the girls had taken notice of. A dark-blue cloth concealed the item from their view, white vines embroidered upon its surface in an eloquent display. Its length easily equaled half his height, at least, which, he noticed with a smirk, mimicked Jen's. He held out the mysterious object to her with no expression on his face. "This is your asauchi-a nameless zanpakuto," Hitsugaya explained, watching as the girl took the weapon with shaking hands. "It has been decided that only the Captains and Vice-Captains of the 13 Court Guard Squad know who you really are," he went on as Jen unwrapped part of the cloth from the hilt of her new sword. The sunlight hit the metal of the hilt as it peeked out from beneath the fabric, giving off an ethereal glow in the stunned human's hands. "The rest of the Companies will simply believe you to be another Shinigami trainee, with the single exception that I will be training you instead of you attending the Soul Reaper Academy," he finally finished. He waited a few moments for the information to sink in, finding himself oddly interested as to what the newcomer thought about all of this.

Jen couldn't believe her ears…or her eyes for that matter. The weapon in her hands was real. That was proven by the fact of how her muscles strained to keep the thing from dropping to the floor. She never had realized just how _heavy_ a _real_ blade could be! The steel of the hilt felt so cold against her skin, too, but it was a nice cold. Her fingers curled around the handle, instantly finding their place upon the black, leather bands. Somehow-she couldn't explain how-it felt so _familiar_ to her. But how could that be? She had never _ever_ held a weapon of any sort in her hands before. Well, excluding the plastic bow and arrows they had her use in P.E. one semester, but she didn't really count those. They were _plastic_ for goodness' sake! And most of the arrows' shafts were cracked and/or broken clean in half…. Her school was a bit cheap when it came to materials for the students…heck, they were cheap, period.

"Um," she started, biting her lip as a bundle of nerves uncoiled in her stomach. Her brown eyes shone with a combination of excitement and anxiety when she recalled his words from earlier. Train with the Captain? Seriously? Her _hero_? She would get to learn how to use this sword-_her_ sword-from the infamous _Hitsugaya Toshiro_!

'_I think I just had a fan girl moment,' _Jen thought to herself, trying to recall how to breathe. _'Thank goodness it was just in my head.'_ She didn't know what she would do if she had started bawling, leaping for joy, or whatnot in front of two of her role models.

"Jen-chan? You okay?" Rangiku's concerned voice floated into her ear.

Jen jumped at the sound, blushing ten different shades of red. Why was she blushing so much today? Didn't that annoying trait belong to her sister? Ugh.

"Yes?" she tried answering the taller blonde but it came out more as a question. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "I'm okay, Rangiku-san," that was all she was able to get out before she suddenly found herself trapped within the chest of the 10th Division Lieutenant. Great…. As if she wasn't having enough trouble breathing already….

"Rangiku, get off her!" Hitsugaya barked, grabbing Jen's arm to steady her when it looked like she was about to pass out from the lack of oxygen. He waited until her face returned to its natural peach color before handing her a sheet of paper with writing on it. "This is the schedule for the next several weeks. You will come to the office early tomorrow." After that last order, he turned around to head back into his office. "You may have the rest of the day to familiarize yourself with the barracks, but don't wander too far. I'll send Rangiku later to show you to your room," he threw over his shoulder, already having a tight hold on a wad of said woman's shihakusho so that the blonde could not escape.

"Uh, o-okay," Jen stammered, a little overwhelmed by all the information pushed upon her. She didn't really want to be left alone for who knew how long, and in a place she had no clue how to navigate, either. However, she had no intention of arguing with a captain of the Gotei 13.…

"Aw, but Captain!" Rangiku whined, struggling against the grip of the much-shorter Shinigami. For a little guy, he sure was strong…. "We can't just leave her on her own like this. It's just not right!"

Despite her not wanting to argue with the white-haired boy, Jen was grateful for the older woman's input. She really had no desire to wander the Seireitei all on her own.

Hitsugaya glanced from one pleading face to the next, looking thoughtful. But before anything could be decided, shouting from just down the hall caught the three's attention.

"Shiro-chan!"

They all looked in the direction of the shouting. Jen's eyes widened at the two people she saw walking towards them.

"Lieutenant Hinamori and Lieutenant Kira," Hitsugaya murmured just loud enough for Jen to hear. "What are you two doing here?"

Momo Hinamori puffed out her cheeks and pouted at the overly-formal speech of her childhood friend. "Now is that any way to treat your friends, Shiro-chan?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Hitsugaya growled, his temple beginning to throb. "It's _Captain Hitsugaya_, now."

Momo-her violet eyes darkening-opened her mouth to speak, but Kira nervously cut her off before she had the chance.

"Uh, Hitsugaya-taichou?" the Vice-Captain of the 3rd Division interrupted, redirecting the Captain's teal-colored gaze to him. "Momo and I just came to see the newcomer, and to introduce ourselves." He rubbed the back of his head nervously, looking sheepish.

Hitsugaya turned back to Momo, seeing her nod her head in complete agreement. He let out a sigh before an idea came to him.

"Would the two of you mind showing her around the barracks for awhile?" he asked the pair, motioning to the silent Jen who stood quietly off to the side shuffling her feet. "Matsumoto and I have paperwork to do." As he said this, he felt a desperate tug on the shihakusho he still held trapped in his hand. A smug smirk pulled at his lips at his Lieutenant's attempt (and utter failure) at escape. He should have tried this a long time ago...

"Um, okay?" Izuru Kira consented, staring at the struggling Rangiku and wondering how she had managed to get herself caught.

"Sure!" Momo piped up at the same time, eyes glittering with excitement as she practically pounced on the unsuspecting Jen.

"Just be sure to bring her back before sunset," Hitsugaya ordered before disappearing into the darkness of his office, Matsumoto crying tears of agony all the way.

"Okay!" Momo called over her shoulder before turning back to the sandy-haired blonde standing right before her. A chuckle escaped her lips when she realized just how tall the other girl was. She was about the same size as Shiro-chan! How cute!

"My name is Hinamori Momo," the 5th Division Lieutenant introduced herself, spreading her hand across her chest for emphasis. "And _this_," she waved to the blonde man behind her, "is Kira Izuru. He's the Vice-Captain to the 3rd Division. And I'm the Vice-Captain of the 5th Division," she added quickly, forgetting that she had skipped that part of her own introduction. "What's your name?" she asked with a bright smile, her aura practically radiating her happiness at the newcomer being of the female gender.

Jen didn't know what to say. She knew Momo was nice, but this was kind of going overboard. Never before had she been treated so kindly, and she knew a lot of sweet-hearted people! Still, she couldn't lie and say she didn't like it. Hope fluttered in her chest at the golden opportunity standing right before her amazed eyes. Perhaps the two of them could become friends? Already she felt comfortable around the violet-eyed, raven-haired girl. Her energetic display of open affection, too, had managed to grow on her within the span of a few short seconds. Amazing how things like that worked sometimes...

"Um, I'm Jen," the shorter girl said in a stronger voice. Since her favorite taichou had left the immediate area, the sandy-blonde instantly felt a majority of her natural shyness ride off with him. She had always been like that around guys she crushed on. Probably one of the main reasons she never had a boyfriend.

That brought to mind the unpleasant experience she'd had with Rangiku just a few minutes ago. Flinching, Jen prayed that the big-breasted woman had forgotten about her ploy, although she doubted it...very much.

"Would you like to see the other divisions, Jen-san?" Momo continued, not seeing the girl's flinch.

Jen thought for a moment, not really finding the idea of meeting the members (and, consequently, the _Captain_) of the 12th or 11th Division all that appealing. However, she would love to meet the others; and staying in a boring room for the remainder of the day did not sound any more appetizing than her sister's meatloaf...

**(Crimson: Hey! A/N: Quiet, you! Crimson: But you're me and that's an insult to us both! A/N:...I'll kill her later then. Crimson:...Good enough for me. A/N: **whispers** Not really;P)**

"Sure," Jen agreed with a nod in Momo's direction. A second later and she was being dragged by the arm through the halls, Kira following at a much-slower pace.

"Great! It's almost lunchtime so let's go to Ukitake-taichou's office, first," Momo suggested while Jen fought to get her feet back under her. "He always has the best food and even candy for dessert!" As she said this, her eyes lit up like a little kids and twin patches of red shone on her pale cheeks.

Jen-her shorter legs running to keep up with the dark-haired girl's quick pace-stared in awe at the excited Momo. Was she really that crazy about candy? The anime had never shown that before... Then again, this side of Momo Hinamori had never been revealed either. Jen had a sneaking suspicion that she was going to get several more surprises throughout her stay here. Just how long of a stay it was going to be, she had no idea. Thoughts of her elder sibling traipsed through her head, unbidden. Sadness trickled into her heart, and she glanced down to watch her feet as her mind turned to her sister. Had her sister been pulled in as well or was she still back there, in the real world? This question was bothering her. It tickled the edges of her mind, always there and flat-out refused to leave her alone. The need to know ate away at her like a disease. She wondered if there was a way to find out. If anyone in the Seireitei would be able to accomplish such a feat, then it would almost certainly be someone within the 12th Division Research Lab.

A pained grimace shot through her expressive face at that observation. Ugh! She didn't want to go to them! Akon or Rin, she wouldn't have a problem with; but, if she ran into either of the Kurotsuchis... She shivered here. Nemu didn't bother her as much. She just listened to her "master" and did whatever he said which made the violet-haired woman scary. It was Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi that freaked Jen the heck out! Seriously, all that crazy man cared about was his research. Jen was certain that he would completely disregard whatever the Head-Captain may have told him about _not touching her_ just so he could figure her out...if she even had anything about her to "figure out". Which she didn't think she did, but then why would the Gotei 13 want her? She still didn't understand why she was even here...

"Hey, guys!" a familiar voice called out, rousing Jen from her jumbled thoughts.

Jen, Momo, and Kira all turned their heads towards the shout, seeing a long figure flash-stepping towards them. An instant later, and Yoruichi stood in front of them, a wide grin on her dark-skinned face. "What's up? Ooh! Is this the newcomer?" the Flash Goddess asked, leaning down with interest towards the blonde-haired girl. She smirked when Jen took a shy step back.

"Uh, yes, Yoruichi-san," Momo answered while her two comrades were busy admiring the purple-haired woman in front of them. "This is Jen. She just arrived today so we're showing her around," she continued to explain before turning to Jen. "Jen, this is Yoruichi Shihoin. She used to be the 2nd Division Captain, but, now, uh..." she trailed off there, unsure as to how to finish the introduction.

"It's a long and complicated story about how I _stepped down_ from that title," Yoruichi interjected easily, not losing her catty grin. "Let's just say that, now, I'm a free-lancer." the dark-skinned woman laughed, hands on hips and face towards the blue sky.

Jen stared at the woman (the third on her list of favorite females of _Bleach_) while she laughed. Inside she was having a panic attack, but outside she was ogling the "Goddess" so intently that she couldn't help but memorize every detail of the woman. Including those which, normally, were not there...

"Nov-uh, what do you have there, Yoruichi-sama?" Jen asked, quickly recovering from her near slip-up. She eyed the three stuffed animals curiously as they peeked over the woman's shoulders. One was a green turtle in a white shirt and gray/black pants. He had climbed fully on top of Yoruichi's shoulder and balanced himself by holding onto a lock of rich, dark hair. His red eyes stared at the two shinigami and the apparently-human girl, running over every detail in his mind as if trying to gauge how dangerous they were. Another-on the same shoulder-was of a light-yellow color and wore a blue hood. It had buttons for eyes and a beak for a mouth. Its small, wings-for-arms hung tightly onto the dark-skinned woman's shoulder as it tried not to slide back off. The third, and last, plushie was of a rabbit. In Jen's eyes, it was an ugly rabbit, but she tried to look past that. It was pink with a wide, red yarn mouth and yellow buttons for eyes. Two floppy ears hung at its sides and its body looked more like a square-shaped purse if anything (which, Jen knew, it actually _was_). It had two legs and two arms, all of which were clung tightly to Lady Yoruichi's other arm.

"Ah," Yoruichi exclaimed, as if just remembering that she had three stowaways. "These are Nova, Cloud, and Ririn," she introduced, pointing first to the turtle and then to the rabbit-purse, and bird as she said their names. "They're mod-souls," she further explained after catching the confused expressions on both Lieutenants' faces. Her golden eyes rested briefly upon Jen's calm features, not missing the lack of bewilderment on hers. She filed that bit of information away for later speculation.

"And who are these guys, Yoruichi?" the one she had called "Cloud" spoke up, watching the three strangers.

"I am Izuru Kira," Kira replied before the woman had the chance. "And my friends are Momo Hinamori and Jen," he motioned to the two girls beside him.

Jen felt her heart soar when she heard him refer to her as a "friend".

"A pleasure to meet you!" Cloud responded with a weird bow where he used his right ear in place of his arm.

"Likewise!" spoke Ririn in a childish female voice.

"Nice to meet you," came Noba's deep voice, softer than either of his comrades.

All three leapt from their places upon Yoruichi's body, landing effortlessly onto the green grass. Momo immediately joined them in the courtyard, Jen following her like a little lost puppy. Yoruichi, meanwhile, joined Kira upon the wooden platform of the barracks.

"Oh! He's so cute!" Momo squealed as she hugged the green turtle, seeing that his was the most-eye-appealing of the three. That, and she probably had a thing for turtles...

Jen sweatdropped, but found herself unable to resist, herself. Soon, she joined her newfound friend in the girly cooing and hugging of the poor, embarrassed Nova whose entire face was brilliant shade of red at all of the attention.

"Hmph! He's not _that_ cute!" Ririn remarked forcibly, feeling snubbed. Cloud sighed, but enjoyed the view of two females smiling and laughing. Jen, however, instantly picked up the pouting bird, and started smothering her, too, giggling at Ririn's surprised squeal.

"You're cute, too," the blonde informed her, rubbing the stuffed bird against her cheek like Momo was doing with Nova.

Ririn turned ten different shades of red...

"Izuru," Yoruichi addressed in a serious tone of voice, golden eyes watching the display of giggling girls and embarrassed mod souls cautiously. She made sure to keep her voice low enough so that the group could not hear the conversation. "I've acquired some information that is troubling me."

"Yes?" the 3rd Division Lieutenant urged, curious as to where this was heading.

The dark-skinned woman glanced out of the corner of her eye at him, provoking a shiver to go up his spine at the intensity of her stare. Even though he was a Vice-Captain, this woman had once achieved Captain-level. Despite her disgrace and consequent removal of her title, she still held all that power. She was not one he would want to cross...or be anywhere near when she was angered. He hoped that this wasn't one of those times...

"I have heard that Old Man Yamamoto has gotten his hands on something..." she trailed off, returning her unnerving gaze back to the girls.

Kira stared at her, not knowing what she was talking about. He, too, looked out into the courtyard, smiling a little despite the serious talk when he caught sight of the two females harassing the three mods. But, at Yoruichi's next words, his very blood froze.

"A secret weapon to be used against the Espada," she finished, not letting up on her staring.

"A secret weapon?" Kira repeated slowly, mind numb.

Yoruichi nodded. "Yes, he plans to use it in the winter. That's what I heard." She finally closed her eyes, leaning against a wooden support beam with her arms crossed over her chest-a brooding look.

"The Head-Captain has a secret weapon?"


	5. Stripped Clean

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Bleach_._

_Crimson: Okay, listen up, please! I know I have been sorely lacking in the updating department, but all that is going to change (I've made a vow of sorts, and, if I don't uphold it, my little sister will annoy the heck out of me every single day for the rest of my life! So to keep her-and me- happy, I SWEAR I WILL UPDATE ON A REGULAR BASIS FROM NOW ON! So keep an eye out^.^)._

_So, for the past several months, I have been working hard at my job while simultaneously organizing all of my stories and getting them into my computer. Then, just a couple of weeks ago when I FINALLY got them all on my brand-new, beautiful laptop which I had gotten for Christmas, my computer decided to have a fit! .* It wouldn't go past this one screen so I had to take it in to the place I bought it, pay $100.00 to get all of my information off the hard drive (just in case they found a problem with it and decided to pitch it...I would have had a heart attack), and then come home WITHOUT IT! Anyway, long story short, I just got the Data Discs yesterday and have been copying all of my hundreds of stories into a USB flashdrive so I can use my second computer (which had been messing up, but, now, works fine O.o). Needless to say, I've been losing my mind..._

_WARNING!: This chapter has a little risque talk (not too bad, though), as well as attempted rape (also not bad). Just so you are aware ^.^_

_READ ON!_

* * *

**Chapter Five–**

**Stripped Clean**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

**.::My (Crimson's) POV::.**

Nothing seemed to ever happen here. . . .

I tugged nervously at my long, dark hair–a nervous habit I had picked up somewhere-while my eyes flicked from one Espada to the next. My back pressed into the solid wall behind me as I tried to sink deeper into the shadows, desperate to escape the little glances and glares thrown my way every five seconds.

This so sucked! It seemed everyone here hated me...except Gin Ichimaru for some reason. He was the only one who kept trying to urge me into a conversation or even _stand_ next to me so that I could have some company while everyone else sat down without a second thought. Even Grimmjow. Although I kind of expected that from him... I got stuck with a selfish jerk. Wonderful...but, at least, he wasn't trying to kill me. If anyone else had taken on the task of keeping me out of trouble, I would probably be dead by now. Either they or their Fracción would have long ago killed me. Even in Szayel's care, I would still have had to deal with his strange Fracción.

Damn, this was boring...

That was the one train of thought my mind kept reverting back to. Even the possibility of my own death could not deter the boredom... At least, then, I'd have something to _do,_ even if it was running to escape my own demise...

"Ya look pretty bored, Crim-chan," a familiar voice with an accent drawled at my side. I glanced up at the ever-grinning face of Gin, giving him a pout to display my affection (or lack thereof) of his newest nickname for me.

He just laughed. Damn him.

Over the past three hours of standing there and watching the Espada, Aizen, and Tousen come up with plans to rid themselves of the Shinigami and wipe out the Soul Society (which I had basically rolled my eyes at and ignored), Gin and I had been throwing around random nicknames with each other. I had come up with "Smiley", "Whitey", "Fox", "Snake", and various others for him; while he had come up with hundreds for me. So far, I had been called "Blackie", "Angel", "Demon" (yes, apparently, I was both), "Sin", and "Puppy", among several others. Crim-chan was his newest one for me. Now, he was playing with my actual nickname name...

"I _am_ bored, Ginny," I muttered with a smirk, pronouncing his name the same way but just adding the "ny". With the way I spelled it, it looked like a girl's name, and even looked like it could be pronounced "genie". That, of course, made my smirk widen.

"Ah, we're running out of names, now," Gin pointed out with a deep-throated chuckle.

My smile turned down into a frown. "Yeah," I agreed. I had really been enjoying this game, too. Gin was actually really fun. Go figure. An idea hit me then and my face lit up. "Hey, how about we start coming up with nicknames for everyone else?" I offered with a grin that could-almost-match his own.

The saddened expression on Gin's face (I was able to tell what he was feeling, now, after _three freaking hours_!) instantly evaporated to be replaced by a happy one. "Good idea, Crim-chan!"

Oh, great... That one must have stuck...

I sighed, but couldn't prevent the little smile from slipping onto my face anyway.

"Will you two SHUT UP!" Grimmjow growled from directly in front of us, turning to give us both a deathly glare.

Feeling oddly safe by the silver-haired man's side, I stuck my tongue out at him before ignoring him...only to zip behind Gin a second later when the blue-haired cat shot up from his seat. Some of the other Espada laughed. Whether it was because of me-a human-actually showing the powerful arrancar a sign of disrespect, or me hiding behind a Shinigami at the first show of punishment, I had no idea. Either way, I felt my cheeks warm at the embarrassment I had just caused myself.

"She moves pretty fast," Aizen remarked in an amused voice from his spot at the head of the table.

His statement managed to get the Sixth Espada's attention, effectively halting him from his advancement upon me who still hid behind Gin. I watched Grimmjow glance back, raising an eyebrow in question at his Master. I, too, honed in on the conversation, interested in where it was headed.

"A mere human shouldn't be able to use Flash Step," Aizen explained as if that were the most-obvious thing in the world. He raised himself from his seat before walking towards me and his subordinate. Instantly, I felt my hackles rise (wait, I wasn't a dog! whatever...) as I watched him from my peek hole between Gin's arm and side. The silver-haired Shinigami had his hand on the hilt of his blade, ready for Grimmjow if he came too near. I felt my heart soften at the action before I recalled that Aizen had ordered for no one to harm me. Damn...and here I thought I'd finally found a friend in these white halls of death! Oh no, I was finally losing it...

I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt a strong grip on my chin, yanking me from my insane musings. My golden eyes caught sight of Aizen's grinning face, and that was all the imperative I needed to shoot out of there faster than a bat out of hell. I hadn't even realized I'd done it until I found myself standing in front of a white door with the silver number "6" bolted onto it. Even as the confusion swamped me, I was _seething_ inside. White-hot anger sliced through me repeatedly, driving me to the edge of insanity.

"Damn it!" I snarled as I yanked open my door and stomped inside into the welcoming darkness. The wall stung the skin of my back as I slammed into it before plopping down upon the springy, black carpet. My nails dug into the carpet, threatening to dig directly into the rock-hard floor beneath it as wave after wave of rage threatened to topple me over the edge. My body was stiff and rigid as I glared at my lap, looking like I wanted to murder my innocent kneecaps.

Why was I so pissed, you may ask? Well, only one word can describe it.

Aizen.

I _hated_, _loathed_, and _detested _that damn man! I knew all of what he had done to his very own _comrades_! And I also knew what he _would_ do to his precious Espada in the future. But that wasn't what made me hate him so much... Before I had met him, I knew all of this, and I greatly disliked him for it, but the hate was never this deep or this ugly before. Somehow, it had grown considerably worse that day I had actually _met _him in person (which had just been yesterday). For some reason, every time he touched me, spoke to me, or even _glanced_ my way, my very blood boiled. There was something about him that I couldn't stand; something was there that I wanted to destroy completely and effectively. It was like I had a personal vendetta against him, although I was positive that such a thing was impossible. Not only did we come from completely-different _worlds_, but nothing horrible had happened in my present life to stir up such a searing hate.

"Damn it," I growled, pulling my knees into my chest and resting my head on them as I tried to reign in all this unbiased loathing.

It took a good twenty minutes before I calmed down. The storm raging in my chest finally slowed to a mere drizzle, leaving me with a tired-out feeling. It was only then that I noticed a familiar reiatsu just outside my door. Curious, I pushed myself up, using the wall for support. I had to ignore my fatigue as I went to the door and opened it, stepping out of the way as Luppi came tumbling down. My face screwed up in puzzlement, wondering why he had been leaning on the door as if trying to listen to a conversation within. I had been by myself and not talking so...what the hell?

"Dammit!" the effeminate arrancar snapped, glaring up at me with his violet eyes. "What the hell was that for? You made me fall!"

Did he seriously just blame me for his own epic fail at snooping? My expression deadpanned.

"What the hell were you listening for?" I asked him, watching as he got himself up off the floor and started dusting himself of imaginary dirt. I rolled my eyes at that. Pretty obsessed with cleanliness, ne?

"I heard noises," he replied simply, violet eyes focusing in on me.

"Noises?" I repeated, thinking back. I didn't remember making any...

"Yeah," the dark-haired boy verified, waving his hand as if that explained everything. "Huffing and puffing, that kind of thing." His gaze intensified, but I still didn't get it. Only when I saw the light dusting of pink on his cheeks and his eyes travel _down_ did I finally understand at what he was hinting at.

I blushed like 100 different shades of red. Being an artist I _knew_ there weren't that many in the color wheel, but, somehow, I managed to achieve it, nonetheless...

"Oh, nononononono!" I denied, stringing all of my "no"'s together since I spoke in too-rapid of a voice to separate them. My body had a tendency to show when I was upset by breathing heavier and shorter. It didn't happen often, but, when it did, it got bad. That must have been what Luppi had overheard when I was sitting there trying to lessen the flow of my rage. Only he had come to the most-outrageous of all conclusions and, definitely, the _wrong_ one...

"I thought someone else was in here, but apparently not," Luppi continued as he took a look around the empty room. A smug smirk lit his face as he leaned in towards me who had become overly-flustered and embarrassed at his thoughts on what had transpired within the privacy of my own room. "Were you masturbating?" He got right in my face, only inches away from me.

I stayed silent, my voice stuck in my suddenly-dry throat. I couldn't believe he had just used that word. I couldn't believe he had just asked me that question! What the hell? The heat from my face must have been burning him by now. He was _much_ too close for comfort, but my body flat-out refused to obey me. My mind screamed at me to push the male away, but my arms stayed glued to my sides.

With much difficulty, I swallowed the lump in my throat, freeing the words trapped in my throat.

"No, I wasn't!" I screamed in his face, making him jump back several feet. He rubbed his abused ears as I glared heatedly at him, pissed and embarrassed that he had just asked me that. "I just get-"

"Horny?" Luppi cut me off with a smirk, sticking his tongue out as I threatened to turn into a human bomb and explode from the heat of embarrassment.

"SHUT UP!" I shrieked, throwing my own hands over my ears to prevent any more of his perverted words to enter my innocent mind. Giving him a withering glower as he laughed his ass off at my antics, I decided to stop trying to explain myself. In fact, dropping the matter altogether sounded like an excellent idea, so I did just that. Instead, to put the conversation on a different track, I thought I'd voice the first question that had popped into my head the second I had felt him outside my bedroom door.

"What are you doing here anyway, Luppi?"

That managed to shut him up. He still chuckled now and then, but came out of that crazy laughing fit. Wiping the tears from his violet eyes, the lithe-bodied arrancar explained, "I came to get you." He waited to see what my reaction would be, obviously expecting something similar to the previous one.

Too bad for him he wouldn't get it.

"What for?" I asked innocently, my face returning to its natural...well, _white_.

"You haven't forgotten our deal, have you?" Luppi asked, already well-aware of the answer. He grinned when he saw my face fall.

Damn, I was hoping he'd forget... Not really wanting to, I nodded my head, feeling like I had just signed away my soul to the devil.

"Good." Luppi hurried over to me, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me out of the room. "Let's go," he demanded. I felt like being a smart-ass and telling him that we were already going, but decided it best to keep my mouth shut. I really didn't want to give him the opportunity to bring up what had just transpired back in my room mere seconds ago.

I blushed as I remembered. Why on earth did he have to go and say _that_? I'd _never_ done something like _that_. Although that did get me thinking on to whether the arrancar dragging me down the halls of Las Noches did...Okay! Different train of thought now, please?

Releasing a sigh, I resigned myself to mindlessly following Luppi down the confusing hallways of Aizen's Palace. Every time a thought would pass through my head that threatened to go back onto the previous train ride, I pushed it ruthlessly back out. I was determined not to go dirtying my mind with such perverted images. I refused to become a Luppi 2 or a second Shunsui Kyoraku, or any of the many, many perverts running around in the _Bleach_ manga or anime... Man, there were a lot of lechers in this series now that I thought about it...

Still, it was an awesome series...

"We're here!" Luppi announced in triumph.

I glanced up, seeing that we were standing in front of a plain, white door with absolutely nothing written on it. Turning to look at my companion, I couldn't help but voice my thoughts aloud. "How the hell do you guys tell your rooms apart?"

Luppi glanced at me and shrugged his shoulders before entering his chambers. I rolled my eyes as I was hauled inside with him, wishing I had received a better answer (preferably with _words_).

Biting my lower lip to keep in any insults, I took in the view around me. Luppi's room was basically the same as mine, only his floor had black marble floors and walls and it was much, much bigger. In other words, it was _nothing_ like my room. Also, he seemed to have more than one room. The place we entered had a bed pushed in one corner, taking up very little of the space despite being queen-sized. A window was over that-_high_ over that-and not very big, either. There was an ornate rug on the floor of what I would assume was the sleeping area. I stared at the designs of beautiful green and gold ivy artwork displayed upon the red fabric, amazed. The rest of the sleeping chamber had little else to furnish it: just a wooden armoire, a nightstand with a single white lily in it, a trunk at the end of the bed, and a random dark-green loveseat set against the wall opposite the one the bed was on. And, of course, a second door through which, I had to guess, was the bathroom.

Looking beyond the area I had just walked into, I noticed that he also had what appeared to be a living room/office. And it was HUGE! A simple red-and-black curtain separated the sleeping area from it. It was currently pulled back to one side of the room, being held up to the wall by a single piece of cloth, so that the view to the rest of Luppi's room was not interrupted. The opposite wall had a line of enormous windows which let in the light from outside (although it was _always_ night in Hueco Mundo, the moonlight was still beautiful), throwing the living area into sharp relief. A desk-with not a scrap of paper upon its dark-wooden surface-was positioned all the way at the end of the room, a comfortable black chair on the side with the wall so that the person could look out at the rest of the room. A second, beautiful rug ran down the center of this room-this one, white. On either side of the carpet sat a white couch-each large enough to sit five people comfortably. Other than a candle standing all alone at the corner of the desk, nothing else was in the room. Still, it was breath-taking. That was for sure. And unbelievable. Was this really _Luppi's_ room?

I turned a doubtful look upon Luppi who had been watching me with a smug smirk as I admired the unbelievable room. "Is this _really_ yours?" I couldn't keep the expression of awe from entering my voice as I asked even though doubt laced it.

"Well..." he started, his violet eyes sliding off me.

Ah-ha! I knew it... I started to do a mental victory dance, but Luppi's next words cut me short.

"It used to be that damn Ichimaru's," he explained, his voice full of disgust at having to say that Shinigami's name.

I pouted because I actually liked Gin, but Luppi wasn't watching me.

"But," he continued in a sing-song voice, "he gave it to me when Aizen made him move to a room closer to him." He finished with a grin and a shrug of his shoulders, as if to say "that's what you get".

But I still didn't get it...

"Why'd he give _you_ the room?" I pointed out, confused why Gin wouldn't have just given it to an Espada, instead. They had a higher rank than Luppi, so why?

"Because he recognized the potential in me," he explained, smirking as he looked over his shoulder at me.

I just kept staring at him until he finally broke and told me the truth.

"Because I was the first one he saw after Aizen told him to move out..." he admitted beneath his breath, but loud enough for me to hear.

Ah! That _did_ sound like Gin. He would have given this room to any random arrancar he chanced across. It didn't seem like he was the type of guy to really care about ranks and all that.

"Anyway," he waved it off, a light pink dusting his cheeks. "I haven't had the chance to clean it yet, so I need you to."

Wow, he came right out and said it. Pretty straight-forward, huh? I thought back to his question from back in my room. I could not prevent the blush from staining my cheeks a light pink. I wasn't sure if I liked that quality in this guy...

"It doesn't seem to need cleaning," I started to argue, looking around. Everything seemed clean enough. No random clothes or papers on the floor, no spider webs in the corners (were there even any spiders in Hueco Mundo), and no dust on anything.

"Yes, it does," Luppi pushed, shoving something into my hands.

I squealed as something wet sloshed onto me, soaking my entire front. Looking down, I saw a bucket of soapy water with a white rag hanging off the side in my grasp. I turned my gaze back to Luppi and glowered at him, my cheeks burning when I noticed him laughing at me, AGAIN!

"What the hell?" I yelled at him, trembling as I fought back the urge to hit him upside the head with the damn bucket. My entire front was drenched from the water. It even dripped from the edges of my shirt. At least, I was wearing black. That was my one condolence.

"That Gin Ichimaru stayed in here for a while so I need the place cleaned of him," Luppi told me, snickering at me as I continued to glare at him. He walked over to me, eyes running up and down my body as I stood there with the bucket, dripping wet. "Why aren't you wearing white?" he asked, sounding, not only confused, but...disappointed...

I knew exactly where he was getting at, so I did the only logical thing one would do in this situation.

I dumped the remainder of my bucket over his head.

And ran...well, I was planning to, but, for some reason, I just stood there. We both did, staring at each other, both of us dripping wet, and neither making a move. I watched as soap suds ran down the center of Luppi's nose, leaving behind a nice, soapy trail behind it. His dark-purple hair-darker now that it was wet-was plastered to his skull. His white clothes clung to his body, only a few dry spots left on it, now. His previous mood swings were completely gone now. No expression lit his face (or darkened it), it was simply emotionless. Mine, well, I didn't know _what_ mine was. Inside, though, I was having a heart attack.

I had just dumped soapy water on _Luppi_! What the hell was wrong with me? He may have been kidding around with me earlier back in my bedroom, but that didn't really mean he was suddenly _not_ going to kill me if I pissed him off.

Ooh, I was _so_ dead...

The wooden bucket dropped from my suddenly-numb fingers, waking us both up. I flinched when Luppi moved. His expression was an unhappy one, but not angry like I had expected it to be. He closed his violet eyes, effectively stopping his staring. I cocked my head like a confused little puppy, wondering if he would kill me now or later.

Just as I was considering whether it would be beneficial for me to run or to stay, Luppi did something that made me blush as red as a tomato.

He started taking off his clothes.

"Wh-what are you doing?" I managed to stammer, unable to pull my eyes away from Luppi's slender hands as they pulled his shirt over his head. Then I had a hard time taking my embarrassed gaze off his damn lithe body. He didn't have those outstanding muscles like Ichigo and Grimmjow had, but he did have muscles. The artist apparently didn't have much time or love for Luppi whenever he drew him, because Luppi _definitely_ had abs and a well-defined chest. It was just less like a gym rat's and more like a...well, I don't really know what, but I knew that a helluva lot of girls would _love_ to be in my place right about now...even if they didn't like Luppi before...

"I'm taking off these wet clothes," the arrancar stated in an "isn't-it-obvious" sort of tone. Opening his eyes to look at me, he smirked when he saw my red face...and my eyes focused on his chest. "Why? Am I turning you on?" He leaned _really_ close to me, too close. _Way_ too close... My throat made an odd strangled noise and I darted back. Unfortunately, in the process, somewhere I lost my footing and landed straight on my butt. Looking at the object that had tripped me up, I growled in frustration when the overturned bucket met my eyes.

Thou shalt be mine enemy forevermore, Bucket! It's all your fault this happened in the first place!

Technically, it had been the water's conniving, but I tended to be simple-minded when in an overly-embarrassed state...

"Go wait outside then," Luppi ordered with a chuckle, amused by my shyness. He watched me stumble from the room until I slammed the door upon his shirtless form. I grumbled out in the hall when I heard his peals of laughter from inside the room.

"Jerk," I muttered, still bright-red.

I walked over to the other side of the hall and leaned against the barren wall, arms crossed over my chest. Tipping my head back until it hit the wall, I wondered how long it would take for him to change. I caught myself thinking about what he would look like without _any_ thing on, and had to shake my head hard enough to rid myself of those perverted thoughts. These arrancar would be the end of me...

"Well, well," a familiar-and most-feared-drawl came from my left. My blood seemed to turn to ice in my veins. "What do we have here?" Wishing that I had just stayed in the room with Luppi, even if I had to close my eyes and look the other way, I looked up...and into the face of Nnoitra Jiruga.

Damn my shitty luck...

"How'd you get all wet?" the 5th Espada inquired with a toothy grin as he towered over me. He put both his hands on either side of my face, cutting off any chance of escape.

I shivered, refusing to speak since I knew what he meant by "wet". Instead, I glared at him, although it was rather weak.

Just so you know, glaring at an Espada doesn't really work...

"We missed you at the meeting," he continued despite my lack of interest in conversation. He leaned in close to me, bringing his face to my level. I forced myself not to push him away, knowing it would only result in possible broken bones and, possibly, a severed neck. The wall shoved relentlessly at my spine as I pressed closer to it, wishing that I had the power to pass right through the solid surface. "You sure are a pretty little thing," he finally got to the point, taking hold of my chin with one hand and lifting it towards his face.

That was the point I finally snapped.

"Get the hell off me!" I snarled, flinging his too-thin hand away from me. Ducking out from between him and the wall, I tried to make a beeline for the door just a few feet away, desperate to escape this man.

"I like 'em feisty," was the last thing I heard before something slammed me into the ground. Spinning onto my back, I snapped into a sitting position before leaping to my feet. My speed surprised even me, as I suddenly found myself standing after what had only seemed to be half a second on the floor. Although I didn't have long to be astonished, since the Espada before me wasn't nearly as impressed. "Why don't you just come with me like a good little girl, huh?" he crooned, staring at me with lust in his eyes.

Like hell...

"Hell no," I said, stressing the "hell" part. That must have pissed him off because the next thing I knew, I was back on the wall...but my feet weren't on the ground anymore. "Dammit," I choked out, clawing at the tight grip around my neck. I could barely breathe. Scratch that, I _couldn't_ breathe, _at all_! I tried to kick the arm that held me against the white wall, but his other hand quickly trapped my legs against him.

"Now, now," he purred in my ear, swiping out his tongue to lick the side of my neck. I fought to escape, not liking the feeling crawling against my skin. "We can't have any of that." Tears-angry tears-gathered on my long lashes as I yanked at my legs to get them free but to no avail. As a last-ditch attempt (and at the risk of looking like a complete fool), I tried to claw my way of his hold with my sharp nails. Unfortunately, this was the Espada that had the hardest freaking skin in all of Hueco Mundo... Needless to say, I couldn't break the skin. Still, I kept at it, getting severely pissed off. I tried punching, grabbing his hair and yanking on it, and anything else I could think of, but nothing worked. He just laughed off all my efforts, not perturbed in the least. In fact, it looked like he was getting even _more_ turned on by my struggling. The freak...

"GET THE HELL OFF ME!" I managed to scream despite the lack of breath in my lungs. The edges of my vision were already starting to get fuzzy and little sparks of light was speckling the rest of it. Finally, I heard a welcome voice answer my piercing cry.

"GET THE HELL OFF HER!" Luppi snarled, firing a cero at Nnoitra.

The 5th Espada released me and jumped back, avoiding the dangerous attack. Well, dangerous to me and most other arrancars. He must have leapt away out of surprise at seeing another in these apparently-abandoned hallways. A rush of light zipped past me, right in front of my face. A little dazed, I realized about a minute later that it had been Luppi's cero.

_'Aim a little closer next time, Luppi,' _I thought dryly to myself as I sat there to catch my breath. _'Then you can shave my nose clean off.'_

"What are you doing here?" Nnoitra demanded of the lower-classed arrancar, staring at the smaller male.

"What the hell were you about to do to her?" Luppi challenged, instead, blatantly ignoring the stronger Espada's question.

I watched in awe. Luppi seemed really upset; and I didn't understand why. We'd known each other for, what, fifteen minutes? Not much time to grow a friendship there. Especially a protective one like he was exhibiting.

Nnoitra smirked, glancing over to me with a look in his eye that made me shiver in disgust. I couldn't help but rub the side of my neck where he had dared to _lick_ me. The creepy-crawly feeling was still there and I couldn't _stand_ it!

"Just what any _man_ would do to a woman," he enlightened, stressing the word "man".

My eyes widened at that. Was he seriously questioning Luppi's manhood? Man, that was so wrong...

I caught Luppi's eye when he turned to glance at me. Something flickered there that I couldn't quite place. Before I had the chance to inspect the odd expression further, he turned back to Nnoitra.

"You would _force_ her?" he demanded in a low growl. The tension built up around us, growing so that it was almost hard to breathe.

I knew what he had really wanted to say. He had worded it differently for my sake, probably. I'd no idea he would be so considerate, especially to a stranger. I guess I made things interesting for him, or something... This place _could_ be boring on a day-to-day basis, after all.

He had really wanted to ask the 5th Espada if he would have _raped_ her.

I already knew the answer. My very heart seemed to stop when I thought about the off-chance of Luppi not being anywhere nearby and Nnoitra had found me alone...

Uncontrollable tremors shot through me at that mere observation. Some people had fear of spiders. Others were afraid of dying. And, still, others had a deathly paranoia of deep water. I...well, _I_ had a blood-curdling fear of being raped... It was my absolute-worst fear.

"Damn you!" Luppi yelled as he shot forward and straight at the grinning male.

I felt my blood run cold for the second time in less than ten minutes. Dammit! "Luppi, don't!" I screamed, but too late. Something had already happened. "Uh-oh," were the words next out of my mouth.

Grimmjow had arrived. He had stopped Luppi's head-on attack with one hand, squeezing the fist the lower-ranked arrancar had been about to punch at Nnoitra.

"Grimmjow," Luppi growled, but the blue-haired man's attention focused on Nnoitra.

"Remember what Aizen said, Nnoitra?" the Sexta Espada retorted with a grin, revealing his sharpened teeth. "Don't want to die yet, do you?"

Nnoitra's gleeful expression instantly died. I could swear that his face even paled. Even hearing that bastard's name made my blood boil, but I pushed back my hatred as I watched the scene unfold before me with concern. Nnoitra was number 5 and Grimmjow was number 6. I had every faith in Grimmy-kun, but even I could add up those numbers.

Nnoitra was stronger than everyone here.

Spoon-man (as my sister so hatefully calls him) walked away with a snort.

Fortunately, he was scared of Aizen, too.

I let out the breath I hadn't even realized I had been holding, grateful for the lack of injuries. I slowly got to my feet, looking up only when I heard my name being said by two people.

"Crimson," both Grimmjow and Luppi said at the same time. I almost laughed aloud when I saw them both turn to glare at each other.

"Yes?" I asked, glancing from one arrancar male to the next and back again.

"That jerk didn't touch you, did he?" Luppi asked first, beating Grimmjow to the punch. He even turned to smirk at the blue-haired man.

Grimmjow glared but didn't say anything.

"Well, he licked my neck..." I spoke slowly, thinking about it.

"What? I'm going to kill him," Luppi growled, about to stomp off when Grimmjow grabbed hold of his arm.

"You aren't going anywhere," the Sexta Espada snapped, glaring at the violet-eyed arrancar.

"What the hell-?" Luppi began but I cut him short.

"Could I take a shower or something?" I intercepted before the argument could elevate to something more...like a death-match. With a palace full of arrancar, I was sure that it happened pretty often. "The slimeball touched me so I need to get clean, now," I explained, rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment. It was a stupid reason, I know, but it was my main reason for wanting a bath. That, and the fact that I hadn't had one for a couple of days now...

Both Grimmjow and Luppi stared at me like I was insane.

"What?" I muttered, blushing lightly at the attention. Had I grown a second head or something?

Luppi spoke first. "Why aren't you more..." he trailed off as he thought about the proper adjective to use. "_blubbery_ after an experience like that?"

"Blubbery?" I repeated, amused. A smile tugged at the corners of my lips, and I let a giggle slip past my lips.

"Yes, blubbery!" Luppi demanded, blushing a light-pink at my ridicule of his word usage. "You know, weeping and crying over how you were _almost raped_?"

"Leave her alone," Grimmjow ordered, not taking his eyes off me.

Looking like he was about to retort, Luppi thought about it for a second and shut his mouth. Instead, he settled for an irritated snort and a glower in my direction. I shrugged my shoulders at him in answer to his previous question, not really seeing the point in being "blubbery" as he so eloquently put it. True, I was almost raped, but, for some reason, I wasn't worried. Thinking back to it, all I really recalled feeling was frustration at not being able to fight Nnoitra myself. I frowned at the thought of my own weakness. How pitiful.

"You better never run off like that again," Grimmjow spoke in a powerful, not-to-be-argued-with voice, looking sternly down at me. "You are _my_ charge. Understand?" At seeing my silent nod, he grunted his approval before running a hand through his hair. "I have a mission to go on tonight, so either you stay in your room, or..." he didn't finish, and I caught his eyes drifting off an unsuspecting Luppi.

I didn't know whether to grin or to pout. I knew _exactly_ where this was headed.

"You'll watch the girl when I'm gone," Grimmjow ordered, shoving me into Luppi's surprised arms. I blushed as I fell into the dark-haired male's hard body, trying to push out the image of his shirtless self from earlier. "Make sure she gets her 'shower'," he said one last time before he vanished, off to goddess only knows where.

"Great!" Luppi muttered, not sounding happy at all. "Now I'm stuck with you."

Whatever happiness I had felt earlier when I saw him come to my rescue, it was all gone now.

"Jerk," I bit out before pushing away from him and slipping past him into his room. I automatically headed to the only other door in the room, pointedly ignoring Luppi as he pursued me. Opening the door, I flashed a smile when I saw that I had been right.

Perfect. The bathroom. And it was even in modern-day style! Even better.

I turned to look at Luppi who had a surprised expression on his face. "I'm taking a shower, so _don't_ follow me." I went in and pulled the door shut, just then noticing there was no freaking lock on the door. I cursed under my breath before cracking the door open once more. "And _no_ peeking!" I glared at him, my golden eyes promising death (or worse) if he dared to try.

Luppi-who had looked like he had been in the middle of thinking about something-huffed and crossed his arms as he turned the other way. "Who would want to see your flat chest?"

Feeling the blood rush to my face in a combination of anger and embarrassment, I picked up the first thing I could find and threw it at him.

"Ow!"

I smirked as I heard his cry of pain...before I realized that what I had thrown had actually been the bar of soap...


	6. Facing Down the Dragon

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Bleach_. I do, however, own the OCs Jen and Crimson_

_Crimson: ...Sorry for the long wait, everyone! This is a rather-short chapter but I needed to get this out before midnight tonight… I have a new rule: Must put up a new chapter within two days of receiving a review… So, yeah, review if you want new chappies, people! ^.^_

_READ ON! please? and review?_

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**Chapter Six:**

**Facing Down the Dragon**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

**.::Jen; 3rd Person POV::.**

The young blonde trudged slowly through the halls of the Seireitei in the wee hours of the morning, rubbing the sleep out of her dull, brown eyes. She had stayed up nearly half the night before thanks to Momo wanting to show her everything there was to do in the Seireitei. Kira had given up fighting to stay awake somewhere around 10 pm and had left the two in the middle of a karaoke contest with Rangiku (who, of course, had been drunk off her rear…). Jen had vehemently denied to sing in front of all the people in the bar, using the excuse that her throat had felt too scratchy and sore. Thankfully, Momo had let her off the hook-it being her first day and all-while Rangiku had been too drunk to care.

A great yawn stretched the blonde's mouth wide as she pulled her arms above her head to work out the kinks she had sustained by sleeping on the wooden floor in Momo's bedroom. The both of them had been too exhausted to make the long trek back to the 10th Division Barracks where Jen's room was. So, instead, the two newly-formed friends had decided to have a sleepover. They had crashed the second they had stepped through the door, neither possessing the strength to drag out the futons…

"Good morning, Jen," an all-too-familiar voice startled the teenager out of her reminiscing. She jumped, looking over her shoulder to see the memorable blue-green eyes and snow-white hair of her favorite taichou. Immediately, the usual heat flushed her face, turning her pallid skin a vivid tomato-red.

"H-hi, T-Hitsugaya-taichou," she caught herself just in time. Her mouth had automatically wanted to say his first name rather than his last which would have bode ill for her. It was a well-known fact around the Seireitei that the captain of the 10th Squad absolutely _hated_ it when anyone addressed him by anything other than his title. Rumors abound that even his childhood friend was not excluded in such. Of course, Jen knew the reason behind this, but she could not say anything on pretense of pretending to not know anything…

Choosing to ignore her odd stuttering and the red in her face, Hitsugaya stepped past her. "Follow me," he simply said.

Jen-a bit put down by his offhanded attitude-nodded her head in answer, moving quickly to keep up with his furious pace. She had a little trouble seeing as how her sword hung awkwardly off her hip, the tip of it dragging on the floor. With a frown, she removed it, deciding that carrying it for now would be the best option. She'd ask Momo later if they could get a sash so that she could wear it like Hitsugaya wore his.

Another blush blossomed in her cheeks as the white-haired taichou, once again, invaded her thoughts.

How was she _ever_ going to get through this morning…?

**.::3 hours of training later::.**

The hard-packed earth rammed what little air remained in her lungs out in a whoosh as Jen landed hard on her back. It didn't help matters when she felt a blade being pressed against her throat a second later. The cold bite of steel pricked her skin like ice, pulling all the warmth from her body in an instant. Despite the precarious situation she was in, she felt not a tremor of fear.

What was this…the 113th time? Geez! They've been at this for _hours_! She was _exhausted_…

"You keep sweeping to the right when you should be guarding your left," Hitsugaya explained in that always-patient tone of his, although, by this point, it had a tinge of exasperation to it… "It leaves you wide open." He removed his sword from her neck, re-sheathing the blade. Instantly, the cold emanating from Hyorinmaru vanished and Jen was able to breathe properly once more. She took the hand offered to her and Hitsugaya pulled her to her feet. "That's enough for today. Perhaps starting you off right away with swordplay was not the best idea…" he trailed off, gazing into the distance. The sun had climbed higher into the sky, throwing into sharp relief the silvery tint in his hair and golden undertone in his soft-looking skin. Jen had to tear her gaze away from him before berating herself for acting like a Mary-Sue. Only then did she notice her hand still clasped tightly in his own…

"Although," he started again, drawing the blonde's attention back to his face. His teal-colored eyes caught her brown ones. "You possess a natural skill with the blade. Are you positive that you've never held a sword before?" He sounded suspicious as if Jen had not told him the truth before they had sparred.

Jen shook her head in indication that she would never-in her wildest dreams-lie to him. The possibility of such did not exist! Not in her world… She… She was a pretty horrible liar when it came right down to it… Her sister, however, was even worse…

"No," she reiterated, holding his icy gaze in determination. "I've never been trained with a sword before. _Never_." Perhaps if she repeated it enough times, he'd believe her?

…Yeah, and pigs could fly… After the whole Aizen-incident, she couldn't blame any of them for not trusting somebody, especially a complete-stranger.

The young man sighed, dropping the matter altogether. He ran a hand through his hair, staring at the barracks for the longest time before a loud rumble interrupted his silent musings. Glancing towards the blonde girl at his side, he smothered the urge to smile at her embarrassed expression as she clutched her stomach in an effort to smother its complaints.

It _was_ past breakfast.

"Follow me," Hitsugaya sighed, turning around so that his back was facing Jen.

Once again, Jen felt spurned by his attitude, but only sighed as she did as she was told.


	7. Determinate

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Bleach_. Tite Kubo is the genius behind it all. I do, however, own Jen and Crimson, the Ocs in this story._

_Crimson: Please review? This chappie's short but I needed to get it up before midnight 'cuz I've got a new rule: must update a story within two days of a review^.^ So, if you want something updated, you better review it!_

_READ ON!_

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**Chapter Seven:**

**Determinate**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

**.::My (Crimson's) POV::.**

"Go away!" I yelled through the door, my back pressed firmly against the wood. This may not have been my brightest idea in the world, but I did not have much of a choice…

"Let me in, goddammit!" Grimmjow's furious voice growled back, followed soon after by a pounding on the door which shook even the frame. I was practically-thrown from the wall and had to scramble off the floor to get out of the way in time as my door burst into splinters. Covering my face with my arms, I snarled obscenities at the male who really needed some anger-control classes…

"I am _not_ fighting you!" I told him, tone full of finality. "I don't give a damn what _Aizen-sama_ says!" Again, I spoke the high-and-mighty bastard's name with sarcasm, anger churning in my gut. The nerve of that guy! He had summoned me into one of their meetings _again_ just to inform me at the very-end of said meeting that I was to demonstrate any combat skills I may possess by duking it out with my captor/babysitter… Not his exact words, of course, but that was the gist of it-the dirty truth; not dressed up by all his pretty words…

Having remembered the horror stories my sister had the good graces to relate to me, I had high-tailed it out of there faster than they could say "Sonido"…and barricaded myself in my room… Shit, I didn't know what the hell I'd been thinking… A door would stop the arrancar labeled Number Six by Aizen? Pft! It could be made of steel, have a hundred or so heavy chains, and maybe even a fire-breathing dragon or two and he'd _still_ be able to get to me without a scratch…

Stupid Aizen…

"Good, 'cause I don't either," Grimmjow surprised me.

Caught off-guard, I stared up at him from my position on the floor. Golden eyes blinked slowly as I caught his ice-blue gaze as he stood over me in a lazy, carefree way-hands in the pockets of his hakama and unbuttoned shirt revealing his ripped figure. "Wait, what?" I muttered intelligently, a little confused by both his statement and the fact that I wasn't bleeding on the floor right now.

The blue-haired man growled at me-actually _growled_, like some wild beast-before reaching down and grabbing my arm. He heaved me to my feet with no effort at all, like I was some kind of rag doll. "But we will spar, like he said," Grimmjow continued, smirking maliciously at my childish whine. He turned to me then, teeth bared as he grinned. "I'd like to see if you're worthy of being in my presence myself. C'mon, it might even be fun!" he urged, a maniacal gleam in his eye.

I couldn't tell if he was being encouraging or if he was looking for his next victim… Then again, I'm not particularly good at reading people…period. So, for my own sanity, I'll just go with the former-the lesser of two evils.

"Okay…" I sighed, gulping down the fear I could feel itching at the back of my throat. This was so not going to be fun…


End file.
